Department of State released the August 2018 Visa Bulletin. You can access the copy of the Visa Bulletin on the Department of State website here.

Note: USCIS has designated the Final Actions Dates chart for employment-based adjustment of status applications within the U.S. for August 2018.

Below are some key changes for the employment-based preference categories this month:

Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Preference Cases:

• EB1 for China and India remain at 01/01/2012. All other EB1 have retrogressed from current date to 05/01/2016.
• EB2 China moved forward two months from 01/01/2015 to 03/01/2015. EB2 India remains at 03/15/2009. All other EB2 remain current.
• EB3 China moved forward 18 months from 01/01/2013 to 07/01/2014. EB3 India moved forward two months from 11/01/2008 to 01/01/2009. EB3 Philippines moved forward six months from 01/01/2017 to 06/01/2017. All other EB3 remain current.
• EB5 China remains at 08/01/2014. All other EB5 remain current.

Additionally, the National Visa Center has seen an increase in employment-based immigrant visa cases for consular processing following USCIS’s 2017 decision to interview all employment-based adjustment of status applicants. Through June, consular use of employment-based numbers increased by more than 4,000, compared to the same period in FY 2017. Consular processing has increased 40 percent for EB-1 cases with a similar increase for EB-3.

Updated 07/30/2018