July 2024 - Visa Bulletin Highlights

Written By sonal sharma

What is the Visa Bulletin?

If you’ve ever planned to apply for a Green Card or if you’ve applied for one and are stuck in a backlog, you’ve probably heard the term Visa Bulletin. But what exactly is a Visa Bulletin? The visa bulletin is issued every month by the Department of State. It shows which green card applications can move forward, based on when their I-130 (Petition for an Alien Relative) or I-140 (petition for an Alien Worker) petition that starts the green card process was originally filed. It also lets you estimate how long it will take before you will be able to get your green card, based on how quickly the “line” is moving now. Once your GC petition has been filed, you’ll be able to check the visa bulletin and watch your place in line move forward.

July 2024 Visa Bulletin

Before I share the highlights of July 2024 Visa Bulletin, below are certain details about the visa bulletin that you should know.

Dates for Filing: These are the dates listed in the Visa Bulletin. If your priority date is on or before the cut-off date listed for your category, you can take the next step in the application process.

Final Action Dates: The Visa Bulletin also shows “Final Action Dates.” This is an estimate of when your application will actually be processed and decided upon. The difference between these two dates roughly reflects the expected USCIS processing time.

There are two ways to move forward when your priority date is current:

  • Filing for Adjustment of Status: If you’re already living in the U.S.

  • Applying for an Immigrant Visa: If you’re living outside the U.S.

Now that we’ve understood what is a Visa Bulletin, let’s look at the key highlights of the July 2024 Visa Bulletin.

July 2024 Visa Bulletin Highlights

July visa bulletin has a considerable movement and really good news in the EB-1 category for India. Let’s understand why.

For Comparison:

Final Action date in June 2024- March 01, 2021
Final action date in July 2024- February 01, 2022.

So, what does this mean? In November 2022, the EB-1 category was current. But starting December 2022, the dates for EB-1 were retrogressed to Feb 2022. It has taken 1.5 years for the priority date to move back up to Feb 2022.

How Does This Help Indians Get Their EB-1?

It means that a lot of people will see approvals for their pending I-485 application. It is still going to take time for it to become current again. However, it might start moving forward in increments until then.

Below are the other highlights of July 2024 Visa Bulletin:

India: 

  • EB-2 advances only 2 months, to June 15, 2012.

  • EB-3 Professional and EB-3 Other Workers progress even less, only 1 month, to September 22, 2012.

All Other Countries: 

  • EB-1 remains current.

  • EB-2 advances only 2 months, to March 15, 2023.

  • EB-3 Professionals retrogresses almost 1 year, to December 1, 2021

  • EB-3 Other Workers progresses almost 3 months, to January 1, 2021 (except Philippines, which stalls at May 1, 2020).

Please Note: USCIS will accept I-485 applications in July based on Final Action Dates, not the more favorable Dates for Filing chart.  Note that the Dates for Filing chart applies only to I-485 applications with USCIS.  Immigrant visa applications with US embassies are always based on the Final Action Dates chart.

If your Priority Date is current and you need to file your adjustment of status, then you can book a consultation call using the below link:

Book a Consultation: https://www.sharmalawassociates.com/book-consultation

sonal sharma
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