In a move that has crushed the hopes of untold numbers of would-be applicants for US permanent residence, the US Department of State (USDOS) issued a revised October 2015 Visa Bulletin which dramatically set back the new “Dates for Filing Applications”.  See http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bulletin.html.

The revised October 2015 Visa Bulletin was issued last Friday, September 25, 2015, and supersedes the October 2015 Visa Bulletin that was issued on September 9, 2015.

As a result, the following categories now have later filing dates as indicated:

Category                  NEW Filing Date

EB-2 China…………..1/1/2013 (back 1 year and 5 months from the original October 2015 Visa Bulletin)

EB-2 India……………..7/1/2009 (back 2 years from the original October 2015 Visa Bulletin)

EB-3 Philippines…..1/1/2010 (back 5 years from the original October 2015 Visa Bulletin)

FB-1 Mexico…………..4/1/1995 (back 3 months from the original October 2015 Visa Bulletin )

FB-3 Mexico…………..5/1/1995 (back 1 year and 5 months from the original October 2015 Visa Bulletin ).

This means that an intending greencard applicant may only file an adjustment application in October 2015 if his or her priority date is earlier than the Date for Filing as listed in the revised October 2015 Visa Bulletin (the one that was released on September 25, 2015).

It’s impossible to tell how many people were fervently working toward preparing adjustment applications AND making life decisions based on the previously issued Dates for Filing.

As they say, “easy come, easy go”, but this just doesn’t seem fair.  Questions are also being raised regarding the legality of this unexpected move.

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Ms. Wadhwani is a partner in the Immigration Practice group of Fox Rothschild LLP.  She may be reached at cwadhwani@foxrothschild.com.