The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for August 2016 indicates that India has reached its EB-4 visa limit for Fiscal Year 2016 (FY 2016). India joins Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in the list of countries that have reached their FY 2016 EB4 visa limits.
The Application Final Action Dates chart of the DOS August 2016 Visa Bulletin has prescribed a cut-off date of January 1, 2010, for EB-4 visas for special immigrants from India. As a result, starting August 1, 2016, EB-4 special immigrants from India who filed Form I-360, on or after January 1, 2010, will not be able to obtain an immigrant visa or adjust status until new visas become available.
Petitioners may continue to file Form I-360. USCIS will continue to accept all properly filed submissions of Form I-485 for adjustment of status under the EB-4 visa classification for India until July 31, 2016, and will continue to adjudicate applications while visas remain available. After August 1, 2016, USCIS will process and make a decision on Form I-485 only if Form I-360 petition is filed before January 1, 2010 and is ultimately approved. After August 1, 2016, USCIS will reject and return other Form I-485 applications. USCIS will continue to process Form I-360 petitions even if submitted together with a Form I-485 that gets rejected.
FY 2016 ends on September 30, 2016, and information on EB4 visa availability for FY 2017 will be published in the October 2016 Visa Bulletin.
Steve Schroeder, President, RealTimeSites
