The second visa bulletin for the Fiscal Year 2014 has been released by the US Department of State. Visa bulletins help the beneficiaries of immigrant visa petitions to determine when their priority dates will become current. Priority date is the date on which the applicant files an immigrant petition. For example, if a US citizen files Form I-130 for his/her relative, the beneficiary’s (the relative) priority date will be the date on which the petitioner (US citizen) files the immigrant petition with the USCIS.
There are numerical limits on the number of US visas that the United States issues every year. There are no limits on the number of immigrant visas that the country issues to ones who belong to the immediate relative category such as the spouses, children and the parents of US citizens. However, all the other categories are subject to numerical limitations.
People who belong to the family preference categories, and the others who are awaiting to immigrate to the United States based on employment, need to keep track of the visa bulletin that the US Department of State publishes every month.
The Visa Bulletin for November 2013 shows movement across certain family preference categories. Some categories will move forward while some will be held steady. The F1 category, for most of the regions, will move forward by three weeks while it will stay at 1st July, 2001, for Mexico and the Philippines. There will be no movement in the F2A category and it will stay at 8th September, 2013. This F2A category, that is meant for the spouses and children of the Green Card holders, will remain at 8th September, 2013, for all the regions.
The F2B and the F3 categories will move forward by 3 and 1 to 3 weeks respectively. The F4 category will advance by 2 weeks for most of the regions and by one month for the Philippines. EB-3 category for India and the Philippines will stay at 22nd September, 2003 and 15th December, 2006. But most of the regions, including China, will move ahead. EB-2 for workers from China will advance from 15th September, 2008 to 8th October, 2008.