According to the July 2012 State Department Visa Bulletin, all EB-2 priority dates will be retrogressed or unavailable beginning July 1, 2012.  More specifically, the priority date for “All Chargeability Areas Except those Listed”, as well as Mexico and the Philippines in the EB-2 (employment-based 2nd-preference) category will retrogress to January 1, 2009, as of July 1, 2012.  For the month of July, EB-2 numbers will remain unavailable for China and India. 

What does this mean?  If your priority date is on or after January 1, 2009, and you are preparing to file an EB-2-based I-485 Adjustment of Status Application, do it now, before month’s end.  Otherwise, you won’t likely be able to file your I-485 Adjustment Application (and be eligible to apply for an adjustment-based employment card/advance parole) until at least October 2012 when the new fiscal year begins (if then).  We will have to wait to see how things develop.

Consular processing of greencard applications will be affected by this development, too. 

There was also slight movement (some forward, some back) in the EB-3 listings.  Please see the link to the DOS Visa Bulletin for July to view.