December 2015 Visa Bulletin and Future Cutoff Date Predictions

The Department of State has released the Visa Bulletin for December 2015. The table below is a quick overview of the “Final Action (Approval)” cut-off dates and movement from the previous month, for the backlogged employment-based preferences. For all other categories, including family sponsored, please visit our Visa Bulletin Toolbox for more information.

Chargeability Preference Cut-off Date (Y-M-D) Movement (Days)
China Second (EB2) 2012-02-01 0
India Second (EB2) 2007-6-1 304
ROW Third (EB3) 2015-9-1 17
China Third (EB3) 2012-4-15 105
India Third (EB3) 2004-4-22 21
Mexico Third (EB3) 2015-9-1 17
Philippines Third (EB3) 2007-8-1 47

The Department of State also published their predictions on monthly cutoff date movement for the next few months. These represent the Visa Office’s estimates on new cut-off dates for the next few visa bulletins. Of course visa demand and other factors may change, and the actual visa bulletins may differ from the following predictions, but they’ve been fairly accurate in the past.

The predictions painted a bleak picture for China EB-2: virtually no forward movement for the next few months. So China-EB2 will likely have a cutoff date around February, 2012 for three or four months. China EB-3, on the other hand, is predicted to advance rapidly for a few months. The forward movement may stop or even retrogress beginning April, 2016.

DOS also predicted that India EB-2 will advance up to eight weeks monthly for the next few months. India EB3 is also going to move forward, albeit at a slower pace of up to three weeks monthly.

  • EB1: Current
  • EB2:
    • Worldwide: Current
    • China: Forward movement of this date during FY-2015 has resulted in a dramatic increase in demand. Little, if any movement is likely during the coming months.
    • India: Up to eight months.
  • EB3:
    • Worldwide: The rapid forward movement during FY-2015 was expected to generate a significant amount of demand for numbers. If such demand fails to materialize in the near future it will be necessary to begin advancing this cut-off date.
    • China: Rapid forward movement. Such movement will result in increased demand which will require "corrective" action as early as April.
    • India: Up to three weeks.
    • Mexico: Will remain at the worldwide date.
    • Philippines: Four to six weeks.
  • EB4: Current
  • EB5: The category will remain "Current" for most countries. China-mainland born: Slow forward movement.
  • Family-Sponsored worldwide dates:
    • F1: Three to six weeks
    • F2A: Three to six weeks
    • F2B: Up to one month
    • F3: Two to four weeks
    • F4: Three or four weeks

To see the progress of cutoff date movement please use visit our Visa Bulletin Tracker, which shows more than 10 years of visa bulletin data in one graphic chart and allows you to zoom in/out, and select any categories for comparison

Visa Bulletin Tracker

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