Department of State released the visa bulletin for January 2016. Below is a copy of the visa bulletin for the employment-based category and a summary of the changes.

I. Application Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Preference Cases

• Note: USCIS designated these dates as applicable for adjustment of status (I-485) within U.S.
  

  Employment- Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA – mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
  1st	C	C	C	C	C
  2nd	C	01FEB12	01FEB08	C	C
  3rd	01OCT15	01JUL12	15MAY04	01OCT15	01NOV07
  Other Workers	01OCT15	01DEC06	15MAY04	01OCT15	01NOV07
  4th	C	C	C	C	C
  Certain Religious Workers	U	U	U	U	U
  5th Non-Regional Center (C5 and T5)	C	08JAN14	C	C	C
  5th Regional Center (I5 and R5)	U	U	U	U	U

• EB1 category remains current.
• China mainland EB2 remains unchanged at February 1, 2012. India EB2 moved forward 8 months to February 1, 2008. All other EB2 category remains current.
• China mainland EB3 moved forward 2.5 months to July 1, 2012. India EB3 moved forward slightly to May 15, 2004. Philippines EB3 moved forward 3 months to November 1, 2007. All other EB3 category moved forward 1 month to October 1, 2015.
• EB5 Regional Center showed unavailable due to uncertainty in immigrant investor pilot program. The program has been extended until the end of September 2016. As a result, all China mainland EB5 moved forward slightly to January 8, 2014, and all other EB5 category is current.

II. Dates for Filing of Visa Applications

• Note: Timeframe for immigrant visa applicants on when to assemble and submit required documents to the National Visa Center.
  

  Employment- Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
  1st	C	C	C	C	C
  2nd	C	01JAN13	01JUL09	C	C
  3rd	01JAN16	01OCT13	01JUL05	01JAN16	01JAN10
  Other Workers	01JAN16	01JAN07	01JUL05	01JAN16	01JAN10
  4th	C	C	C	C	C
  Certain Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
  5th Non-Regional Center (C5 and T5)	C	01MAY15	C	C	C
  5th Regional Center (I5 and R5)	C	01MAY15	C	C	C

• EB1, EB2, and EB5 categories remain same as December.
• EB3 category for China mainland, India, Philippines remains same as December. All other EB3 moved forward 4 months to January 1, 2016.

Entire visa bulletin is available on the Department of State’s website, and USCIS’s determination of which chart to use can be found here.