The visa bulletin backlog has significantly worsened in the August bulletin. EB1 India retrogressed to January 2012. EB2 and EB3 India retrogressed to January 2011 and January 2009. This is the worst retrogression scenario in a decade. Even EB5 investment fast track green card category which is now becoming popular among H-1B employees retrogressed to April 2017.
Immigration associations are now actively lobbying with USCIS to let all H-1B applicants with approved I-140 to file their I-1485 irrespective of their priority date in the month of October every year when the new fiscal year for USCIS starts.
USCIS does not have an accurate inventory of approved I-140 candidates from retrogressed countries like India to accurately predict the visa bulletin movement as the gap between filing i-140 and I-485 is more than a decade now. Many employees would have been laid off, switched jobs, or left to their home countries.
If USCIS passes this rule and lets all H-1B employees with approved, I-140s to file their I-485 in the month of October they would have an accurate inventory to predict the dates for visa bulletin along with Department of State for rest of the year.
If this rule passes, H-1B employees no longer need to go for visa stamping, can change employment and do second IT projects easily to supplement their income. The trend of doing second IT project has become very popular after covid due to remote work from home positions for both full-time and contract employees.
USCIS has been very receptive to Afghan and Ukrainian refugees in granting tens of thousands of EADs and advance parole travel permits. Immigration associations are hopeful that this liberal attitude would be extended to H-1B immigrants also by allowing them to file I-485 in the month of October every year irrespective of their priority date. Some of these H-1B employees have been working in the USA for more than a decade, bought homes and have US Citizen children but their priority dates are still not current.
Unfortunately, two anti-skilled immigrant senators and California based tech companies desi CEO’s which have thousands of H-1B employees are rumored to be secretly lobbying to prevent this rule to be passed. We will only know the outcome whether this rule is passed or not by September second week when October visa bulletin will be published.
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