The US Visa Bulletin For January 2025: Family, Employment based

The US Department of State has released its January Visa Bulletin 2025, which serves as an important tool for prospective immigrants seeking green cards in the United States. The USCIS visa bulletin January has marks the first such update for the year 2025 and reveals significant developments in several categories of employment-based (EB) visas, particularly benefiting applicants from India.

For fiscal year 2024, the family-based priority immigrant limit is set at 226,000, with specific allocations for each priority category. In addition, there are per-country limits, which are limited to 7% of the total annual family-based and employment-based priority limits.

Family Sponsored Visa Categories

1. First Preference (F1): The final action date has been moved to November 22, 2015, an improvement from the previous date of October 22, 2015. This category is reserved for unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens.
2. Second Preference (F2A and F2B): For the F2A category, spouses and children of permanent residents, the final action date of January 1, 2022 has not changed. Similarly, the F2B category for unmarried sons and daughters (age 21 or older) of permanent residents has not changed.
3. Third Preference (F3): This category, which includes married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, has been extended from April 15, 2010, to July 1, 2010. The filing date for the F3 has also been extended to July 22, 2012.
4. Fourth Preference (F4): The final action date has been extended to August 15, 2006 from the previous date of March 8, 2006.

Employment-based visa categories

Second Preference (EB-2): The final processing date for EB-2, which includes professionals with advanced degrees and individuals with exceptional abilities, has been extended to October 1, 2012. However, filing dates will remain January 1, 2013.

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Third Preference (EB-3) and Other Workers: These categories now share a final action date of December 1, 2012, while their filing dates have not seen any movement.

Final action dates:

• EB-1 (Priority Worker): Significant retreat for India as of 01 Feb’22.
• EB-2 (Advanced Degrees/Exceptional Qualifications): 01 OCT’12, Highlighting Extended Delay.
• EB-3 (Skilled Workers and Professionals): 01 DEC’12, slow movement but consistent with historical trends.
• EB-5 (Unsecured): Priority date is 01 JAN’22, which is a positive sign for investors.
• Other Workers: Same as EB-3 on 01 Dec 12 for India.

Filing dates:

• EB-1: Filing before 15 APR’22 is permitted for priority dates.
• EB-2: Filing for priority dates prior to 01 Jan 13 is permitted.
• EB-3: Filing before 08 JUN’13 is allowed for priority dates, which shows a slight advantage for people with earlier filing dates.

India remains oversubscribed in most categories, leading to significant pushback in priority dates, especially in EB-1 and EB-2.

What is visa bulletin?

The Visa Bulletin is essential for individuals seeking green cards, as it provides important information about immigration status and timelines for adjusting eligibility based on the submission of applications.

The Bulletin consists of two main sections:

1. Final Processing Dates: This section estimates the waiting time for applications to be approved for permanent residence. It creates a queue based on visa category and nationality, indicating when applicants can expect their applications to be processed.
2. Filing Dates: This section lists the earliest dates that applicants can file their adjustment of status or immigrant visa applications. This helps applicants determine when they can proceed with their filing based on their visa category and country of origin.