The US Department of State has released the visa bulletin for the month of October. October 2013 visa bulletin is the first bulletin for the fiscal year 2014. F2A family preference category that is current will have a cutoff date starting 1st October 2013. This category, that is meant for the immediate relatives such as the spouses and children of Green Card holders, will retrogress in the next month. This category was current in August and will remain current till the end of September.
F1 category, that includes the unmarried sons and daughters of US Citizens, will continue to move forward. Cutoff dates will be introduced in the next month for the F2A category. F2A category will have a cutoff date of September 8, 2013 and this category for Mexico will move to 1st September, 2013.The US Department of Homeland Security is introducing cutoff dates in order to slow down the rate of new filings.
Until the cutoff date is imposed on 1st October, immediate relatives of Green Card holders can concurrently file Form I-485 with Form I-130. Applications filed by the spouses and children of Green Card holders for adjustment of status, while their sponsors file Form I-130, will be processed if their priority dates are current. However, only the immediate relatives of Green Card holders who are in the United States can file Form I-485 with Form I-130 and adjust status.
People who seek to sponsor their relatives under the F2A category can make use of this chance and file their applications as soon as possible. Applicants whose priority dates are current, can apply for adjustment of status if they are in America or for immigrant visas, if abroad, at overseas US Consulates. Applicants whose priority dates are earlier than the cutoff date alone will be issued visa numbers. The others will have to wait until their priority dates become current.
Applicants, by keeping track of the visa bulletin that the US Department of Homeland Security publishes every month, can know when their priority dates will become current.