Update 5/27/2011: USCIS finally released the inventory on May 27. The Green Card Tracker has now been updated with the new data.
USCIS is supposed to release the pending EB I-485 inventory on a quarterly basis, but is apparently running late for the first quarter of 2011. The last release was on January 5, so the next one should be somewhere around mid April, including a couple weeks of lead time. So USCIS is roughly three weeks behind as of today (5/6/2011).
Last year’s inventory releases were generally three months apart, on March 8, May 27, October 1, and then January 5 of this year. The 5/27 – 10/1 gap was a little over four months, however.
Many readers have recently asked when they will see an update on the green card tracker, which uses the official I-485 inventory for the calculations. Honestly we don’t know, but we do expect USCIS to release the next inventory by the end of May.
On a side note, USCIS has indicated their intention to publish the family-bases I-485 inventory as well. If the delay of EB inventory continues, we wonder if USCIS is trying to synchronize them. If this is the case, the delay will be certainly understandable and actually very good news for those waiting in the family queue. This, of course, may be just our wishful thinking. The immigration agency made no commitment as to when or if they will release the family-sponsored I-485 data.