Faster Green Card Processing for Indian Families: New Visa Bulletin Offers Hope

The latest visa bulletin released by the United States Department of State for April 2024 brings promising news, especially for Indian applicants seeking green cards. Notable progress has been made in both Final Action Dates and Filing Dates across various categories.

What is the Visa Bulletin?

The Visa Bulletin is a monthly update that shows the availability of immigrant visas for different categories and countries. It includes two key dates:

• Final Action Dates: This date indicates when USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) can start taking action on applications (such as granting Green Cards).
• Dates for Filing Applications: This date tells applicants when they can begin submitting their applications to the National Visa Center.

Positive Developments for Indian Applicants

The April 2024 Visa Bulletin brings positive news for Indian applicants in several Green Card categories:

Family-Based Preferences

Second Preference (F2A): This category is for spouses and children (under 21 and unmarried) of lawful permanent residents. The Final Action Date for F2A visas has advanced from June 2020 to September 2020.

Fourth Preference (F4): This category is for brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens (who are at least 21 years old). The Date for Filing Applications for F4 visas has moved up to April 2006 from February 2006.

Dates For Filing Family-Sponsored Visa Applications

What This Means for You

These advancements in processing dates mean that Indian applicants in these categories may be able to move forward with their Green Card applications sooner.

EB-5 Visa Category Updates

For the EB-5 visa Unreserved categories (C5, T5, I5, and R5), the Final Action Dates for China and India will remain unchanged on December 15, 2015, and December 1, 2020, respectively. Other nations will maintain their existing statuses. Additionally, there are no alterations to the EB-5 set-aside categories, including High Unemployment, Infrastructure, and Rural.

Employment-Based 5th Preference Allocation

Within the employment-based 5th preference, 7.1% of the worldwide level is dedicated to employment creation. This includes reserved percentages for investment in rural areas, high unemployment areas, and infrastructure projects, while the remaining 68% is unreserved and available for all qualified immigrants.

Final Action Dates For Employment-Based Preference Cases

Per-Country Limits for Green Cards

The U.S. imposes annual limits on the number of Green Cards issued per country. This ensures a diverse immigrant population.

• Family-Sponsored and Employment-Based Limits: There’s a combined annual limit of 256,200 visas for both family-sponsored and employment-based preference categories.
• Per-Country Limit: No single country can receive more than 25,620 visas annually within these preference categories.
• Dependent Areas: Separate limits exist for dependent areas of the U.S., such as Guam and Puerto Rico.

Preference visas are allocated based on the order of petition filing. Spouses and children joining principal preference immigrants receive the same status and priority in the application process.

With these updates, eligible individuals can better navigate the immigration process and take necessary steps towards securing permanent residency in the United States.