Employment-Based Visa Availability

The Department of State publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin that tells applicants when their Priority Date is current.Applicants must wait for their Priority Date to become current before they can apply for a Green Card.

Visa Cut-Off Dates for May 2013

Employment-Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	C	C	C	C
2nd	C	15MAY08	01SEP04	C	C
3rd	01DEC07	01DEC07	22DEC02	01DEC07	15SEP06
Other Workers	01DEC07	01SEP03	22DEC02	01DEC07	15SEP06
4th	C	C	C	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
5th Targeted Employment Areas/ Regional Centers and pilot programs	C	C	C	C	C

*Employment Third Preference Other Workers Category: Section 203(e) of the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997, as amended by Section 1(e) of Pub. L. 105-139, provides that once the Employment Third Preference Other Worker (EW) cut-off date has reached the priority date of the latest EW petition approved prior to November 19, 1997, the 10,000 EW numbers available for a fiscal year are to be reduced by up to 5,000 annually beginning in the following fiscal year. This reduction is to be made for as long as necessary to offset adjustments under the NACARA program. Since the EW cut-off date reached November 19, 1997 during Fiscal Year 2001, the reduction in the EW annual limit to 5,000 began in Fiscal Year 2002.

How to Read the Visa Bulletin

First, identify your Preference Category from following list:

First: Priority Workers

Second: Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability

Third: Skilled Workers,Professionals, and Other Workers

Fourth: Certain Special Immigrants

Fifth: Employment Creation(Investors)

Next, identify your country of nationality (If you are claiming chargeability from a country other than China, India, Mexico or Philippines, then you should refer to the first column, labeled "All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed.") The cell that represents your Preference Category and Country of Nationality will contain either a date or a letter.

If a cell is marked "C" that means that the Priority Date is current in that Category and visa numbers are available. If a cell is marked "U" it means that no visas are available for the rest of the fiscal year (which ends on September 30). If a date appears in the cell, then that date signifies the visa "cut-off" date. Applicants must have a Priority Date that falls before the date listed in the cell in order to qualify to apply for a Green Card.