All about the June 2023 Visa Bulletin (2023)

FAQs

Will USCIS speed up in 2023? ›

In the first few months of 2023, we have continued to see improvements in processing times for many petitions and applications. For example, the current processing time for the I-129 petition is approximately 2 months.

The government estimates that 197,000 green cards will be available to persons in the employment categories in Fiscal Year 2023, down from 281,507 in FY 2022, but 57,000 higher than the 140,000 mandated by law as the result of 57,000 unused family-based green cards in Fiscal Year 2022.

What does Immigration Planner predict? The key of our short-term prediction is that there will be no 'forward movement' for F4-All Countries until at least the summer of 2022, and most likely no movement until the end of fiscal year 2022 in September 2022.

Family spillover to employment is 60k GC in FY 2023. This means a total of 200k GCs will be available for the employment-based category. This was supposed to be good news for Indians but USCIS has spoiled it by estimating that ROW (the rest of the world) is going to use all the numbers.

USCIS processing times are quite accurate but are subject to change without prior notice. For example, the USCIS processing times I-130 may be influenced by an error on the petitioner's side or even the USCIS themselves.

One major reason for the slower review times is that immigration forms have significantly increased in length over the last two decades, from fewer than 200 pages total in 2003 to more than 700 pages total in 2023. Overall, 93% of USCIS forms have grown in length since their introduction.

The Visa Bulletin is a monthly publication that provides updated monthly numbers of the list of applicants and the "current" priority date for those applicants. The publication normally is issued the second or third week of each month.

The India EB2 Final Action Date on the Visa Bulletin will remain stagnant until June 2023. After huge retrogressions in the second half of calendar year 2022, India EB2's Final Action Date has remained essentially unchanged, leaving those who are waiting for their date to be current feeling completely hopeless.

Get started today! Every year, the U.S. government issues more than a million green cards. Most are given to family members of U.S. citizens and current green card holders, followed by workers from other countries seeking employment in the United States as the next biggest group of recipients.

Visa Fee Increases Effective May 30, 2023

The application fee for certain petition-based nonimmigrant visas for temporary workers (H, L, O, P, Q, and R categories) has increased from $190 to $205.

What is current date in green card processing? ›

You can find your priority date on the I-797 form mailed by USCIS approving your I-130 petition. Current: In the context of the visa bulletin, “current” means no backlog and no wait time for a green card. A particular priority date becomes “current” once it reaches the front of the line and a green card is available.

The processing time for F4 visa will never take less than 14-15 years. In addition, the sibling green card processing time varies depending on the service center your I-130 was submitted. The I-130 can take anywhere from 6 months to 10 years to be processed and approved.

The field office in Cleveland tops the index, with a typical (median) citizenship application processing time of 4 months, and almost nobody waiting longer than 12.3 months.

Immigration to the U.S. isn't exactly quick and easy, but processing times may be improving in 2023! But before we can talk about what changes the agency will go through to speed things up, it's worth understanding how USCIS processing times grew so long over the last few years.

On an average day we:

Adjudicate more than 32,500 requests for various immigration benefits. Process 3,700 applications to sponsor relatives and future spouses. Analyze nearly 550 tips, leads, cases and detections for potential fraud, public safety and national security concerns.

You can generally request expedited processing by calling the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283 (TTY 800-767-1833) or by asking Emma after you have obtained a receipt notice.

The current wait time for Form I-130 is 12.4 months. Form I-485 (“Application for Adjustment of Status”): Family-based green card applications (in other words, immediate relatives or spouses of a U.S. citizen) for applicants filing from within the United States average 11.7 months.

Many factors impact processing times, including the number of applications, petitions, or requests we receive, workload allocations, and staffing levels, among other factors. Case-specific factors may also make an individual adjudication more complex, requiring additional adjudicative time.

Why is the family Visa Bulletin stuck? The Final Action Dates (F.A.D) are not moving forward because of the significant backlog of 'documentarily complete' cases created during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The U.S. Department of State extended until December 31, 2023, previously approved authorities allowing consular officers to waive the in-person interview for certain H-2 (temporary agricultural and non-agricultural workers) applicants; certain students, professors, research scholars, short-term scholars, or ...

How often does Visa Bulletin come out? ›

Check your inbox toward the end of every month for the latest Visa Bulletin update from Boundless. Every month, USCIS announces whether applicants already living in the United States should file their “adjustment of status” applications based on the “Final Action Dates” or the “Dates for Filing.”

While India is not current in the EB2 category, it is far less retrogressed than the EB3 category. While EB2 for India is backlogged, priority date movement in the EB2 category is usually much faster than it is in the EB3 category.

In this process, the EB-2 beneficiary must complete the applicable medical examination and submit a list of documents required by USCIS. An interview may also be required. In either case, the average processing time is nine months (counting from the filing date).

For example, the EB2/EB3 backlog has grown to nearly 600,000 applicants — primary and derivative — which is 810 percent larger than the total number of green cards issued annually in those categories.

In a Nutshell

Every year, about 810,558 immigrants apply to become U.S. Lawful Permanent Residents (“LPRs,” better known as green card holders) through family members. Of these, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) approves about 88% and denies 12%.

While there are many ways to obtain a green card, some paths are quicker than others. The quickest route to a green card is through the annual green card lottery, but your chances of winning are slim (about 4% according to recent estimates).

The State Department confirmed at the end of the year that it would extend until December 31, 2023, the interview exemption measures already in place for certain nonimmigrant visa application processes.

As noted in the May 2023 visa bulletin, the US Department of State expects both India EB2 and EB5 to retrogress further as early as June. This is likely to occur in June, and may retrogress even more in July and August.

More than 4 million visa applications are denied each year by the U.S. government for a wide variety of reasons. For instance, a person's visa application may have been denied based on the fact that they did not meet the specific qualifications of the type of visa for which they applied.

How many are waiting for green card? ›

The employment-based green card backlog currently includes more than one million people total.

The processing times vary for each type, ranging from 7-33 months for family-based visas, 10-13 months for marriage-based green cards, 1-6 years for employment-based green cards, and no processing time for returning resident immigrant visas.

It takes 7 to 33 months to process a Green Card application.

Family Preference Green Cards processing takes from 1 to 10 years depending on the wait time and yearly caps. Employment Based Green Cards processing could be from 1 year for visas that have a low demand to 4 or 6 years for visas with very high demand.

The US student visa (F-1 visa) is one of the fastest visas to process. In fact, the study permit is often processed directly before your embassy interview.

The US Embassy at New Delhi has the shortest wait for tourist and business visa appointments - 247 days. The United States has been taking more steps to reduce visa wait times for Indians, including moving workers from other departments around the world to visa offices in India.

If you wish to proceed with requesting an expedited appointment, then complete the Expedited Request Form in English or contact the call center to request assistance. Please be sure to note the type of urgency you believe qualifies you for an expedited appointment.

The current wait time for Form I-130 is 12.4 months. Form I-485 (“Application for Adjustment of Status”): Family-based green card applications (in other words, immediate relatives or spouses of a U.S. citizen) for applicants filing from within the United States average 11.7 months.

- The current average processing time for legal permanent residents filing Form I-130 for a spouse beneficiary is 28 months.

How long does the advance parole take to process? Obtaining the advance parole document can take about 90 days. However, such permit could be expedited if you meet the requirements of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): An emergency.

Sometimes, USCIS might be able to approve your I-130 without the need for an interview. If you are a U.S. citizen and you are filing for your parents, or unmarried children under the age of 21 who are in the United States and have filed Form I-485, then you might not need an interview.

How quickly is I-130 approved? ›

After filing Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, the approval process can take anywhere from 6 to 12 months for immediate relatives and could take several years for family preference categories. This is an approximation. It may be shorter for some and longer for others.

You can generally request expedited processing by calling the USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283 (TTY 800-767-1833) or by asking Emma after you have obtained a receipt notice.

Generally, once we approved the petition, your relative may apply to become an LPR (get a Green Card). If your relative is already in the United States and a visa is available, they may be eligible to get their Green Card by filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

If you are in the United States after USCIS approves the I-130 petition, you'll probably want to file an adjustment of status package. The adjustment package generally includes several mandatory USCIS forms and some optional forms.

If you are a permanent resident, you can travel outside the United States. Temporary or brief travel usually does not affect your permanent resident status.

A travel permit is a document that allows someone living in the U.S. while awaiting their green card to travel abroad without nullifying their green card application.

Typically, an Advance Parole document allows you temporary travel for up to one year abroad. However, USCIS reserves the right to revoke your Advance Parole document for any reason. If this happens, you cannot return to the United States without a valid visa or other documentation.