Increased Availability of Employment-Based Green Cards for India and China

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has just announced a major increase in the availability of employment-based immigrant visas (i.e. “Green Cards”) for October 2020. In particular, many Chinese and Indian foreign nationals may now be eligible to process their (and their family members) applications for lawful permanent residence within the United Sates or process their immigrant visas at a U.S. consulate abroad.

According to the Department of State’s October 2020 Visa Bulletin, cutoff dates for the issuance of immigrant visas are:

The Department of State’s monthly Visa Bulletin notifies individuals when they may file for U.S. lawful permanent residence based on their “priority date”—the date when an application for PERM Labor Certification was filed with the Department of Labor, or the date that an I-140 petition was filed to USCIS where a PERM filing was not required. In order to be eligible to file, an individual’s priority date must be earlier than the date listed in the Visa Bulletin.

Despite President Trump’s April 2020 executive order temporarily suspending the entry of certain immigrants through the end of 2020, many foreign nationals with employment-based immigrant petitions may now be eligible to file for adjustment of status to lawful permanent residence and should begin preparing their applications immediately in order to ensure they are filed in the month of October 2020. For questions on eligibility or how to prepare your application for a Green Card during this time-sensitive moment, please feel free to contact us.