Priority Dates Advance Significantly in Most Employment-Based Green Card Categories

By: Kirti Kalra and Suneeta Dewan

The priority dates of most employment-based green card categories have advanced in the US State Department’s August 2020 Visa Bulletin. This means that more foreign nationals will become eligible for United States lawful permanent residence this month.

Priority Date Changes in the Visa Bulletin for August 2020 *

Conclusion

Green Card Category	Nationals	New Priority Date	Amount of Advancement
EB-1 (extraordinary ability, multinational executives and managers, outstanding professors, and researchers)	China	February 8, 2018	Six months
	India	February 8, 2018	Nine months
EB-2 (professionals with advanced degrees/exceptional ability)	China	January 15, 2016	Two months
	India	July 8, 2009	No change
EB-3 (professionals, skilled and unskilled workers)	China	February 15, 2017	Eight months
	India	October 1, 2009	Four months
EB-5 (immigrant investors)	China	August 8, 2015	Two weeks
	Vietnam	July 22, 2017	Two months

A priority date is the date United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) assigns an individual’s I-140 Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers. Individuals must wait until their priority date becomes current before they or their employer can complete the application process. Nationals of certain countries face extended wait times for employment-based green cards because a high volume of petitions is filed for people from their country.

Impact of the Recent Presidential Proclamation

The United States presidential proclamation of April 22, 2020 limits the entry of individuals who were not present in the US and did not already hold a valid US visa or travel document on the proclamation’s effective date (April 23, 2020). The proclamation also limits the issuance of employment-based permanent residence at US consulates abroad. The proclamation is effective through December 31, 2020.

Conclusion

For help sponsoring your employee for employment-based permanent residence, please contact your trusted Chugh, LLP attorney. We recommend forwarding this alert to interested contacts.

* USCIS is using the Final Action Date as its basis for accepting petitions, as it did for July 2020.