Key Updates for Immigrant Applicants

The U.S. Department of State has released the Visa Bulletin for May 2024, outlining the availability of immigrant visas for both "Final Action Dates" and "Dates for Filing Applications." These dates help immigrant visa applicants know when to submit their documents to the National Visa Center.

For family-sponsored immigrants, there are 226,000 visas available, while for employment-based immigrants, there are at least 140,000. The per-country limit for these visas is 7% of the total, or 25,620, with a limit of 2% for dependent areas, which is 7,320.

To apply for adjustment of status (AOS), a process to get a Green Card without leaving the U.S., you need a priority date earlier than the one listed for your preference category and country. If there are more visas available than known applicants, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may allow you to use the "Dates for Filing Visa Applications."

In the May 2024 Visa Bulletin, most employment-based categories saw little to no movement from April 2024. In the EB-1 category for priority workers, the dates remain current for most countries, except for India and China, where the dates are March 1, 2021, and September 1, 2022, respectively.

In the EB-2 category for advanced degree holders, India's date is still April 15, 2012, and China's is February 1, 2020. In the EB-3 category for skilled workers, India's date stays at August 15, 2012, and China's at September 1, 2020.

Finally, in the EB-5 category for investors, dates remain unchanged, with India at December 1, 2020, and China at December 15, 2015. The rest of the world continues to have current dates for the unreserved and set-aside categories.