Visa Bulletin, January 2024

What this issue did

The state of this issue

Counted inside this issue alone, before it is compared with anything published before it.

• Final Action Dates: 54 of 75 country columns carry a cut-off and 21 are current; every column has numbers. The furthest-back cut-off is 08SEP98, in F3 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 164 months, in F1: Mexico against All areas, China and India, with 1 country somewhere between the two. Current in every column: EB-5 Rural, EB-5 High Unemployment and EB-5 Infrastructure. Current in 6 country columns of EB-1 and EB-5 Unreserved, though not in their other columns.
• Dates for Filing: 54 of 75 country columns carry a cut-off and 21 are current; every column has numbers. The furthest-back cut-off is 15APR01, in F4 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 149 months, in F1: Mexico against All areas, China and India, with 1 country somewhere between the two. Current in every column: EB-5 Rural, EB-5 High Unemployment and EB-5 Infrastructure. Current in 6 country columns of EB-1 and EB-5 Unreserved, though not in their other columns.

How far the filing chart runs ahead

Of the 54 country columns where both charts carry a date in this issue, Dates for Filing runs ahead of Final Action Dates in 54 of them. The widest lead is 47 months, in F1 for Mexico. The middle lead is 7 months and the narrowest 14 days.

Where this issue sits in the archive

This is issue 4 of 36 published here, in a record running from October 2023 to September 2026.

Of the 75 country columns on the Final Action Dates chart, a cut-off appears both here and in September 2026, the newest issue published here, in 49 of them. Every one of them stands later in September 2026 than it does here, so the record ends ahead of where this issue leaves it. The middle difference across them is 43 months, and the largest is 81.7 months, in F2A for All areas, China, India and Philippines. That compares two ends and nothing in between: it says where these columns stand in each of the two issues, not that the queue only ever moved one way. A column can finish later than it began and still have fallen back on the way, and the category pages count the backward steps an endpoint comparison cannot see.

Of the 75 country columns on the Final Action Dates chart in this issue, 40 advanced, 0 moved backwards and 30 stood still. On the Dates for Filing chart, 17 advanced and 0 moved backwards. The remaining 5 country columns changed between a date, current and unavailable rather than moving.

Everything below is measured against December 2023, the issue immediately before this one.

The largest advances

• EB-1 for India advanced 44 months, from 01JAN17 to 01SEP20. Over the three issues to January 2024 it advanced 44 months.
• EB-5 Unreserved for India advanced 23.6 months, from 15DEC18 to 01DEC20. Over the three issues to January 2024 it advanced 23.6 months.
• F2B for Mexico advanced 17.7 months, from 01MAY02 to 22OCT03. Over the three issues to January 2024 it advanced 21.7 months.
• EB-3 Other Workers for China advanced 12 months, from 01JAN16 to 01JAN17. Over the three issues to January 2024 it advanced 12 months.
• F2A for All areas, China, India and Philippines advanced 8.7 months, from 08FEB19 to 01NOV19. Over the three issues to January 2024 it advanced 8.7 months.
• F2A for Mexico advanced 8.6 months, from 01FEB19 to 22OCT19. Over the three issues to January 2024 it advanced 8.6 months.

Where the cut-off fell back

No cut-off on the Final Action Dates chart moved backwards in this issue.

Categories that opened or closed

• EB-4 Religious Workers reopened for All areas, China, India, Mexico and Philippines after a stretch with no numbers available at all.

By country of chargeability

• All areas: 8 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 109 days.
• China: 10 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 134 days.
• India: 10 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 104 days.
• Mexico: 7 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 170 days.
• Philippines: 5 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 134 days.

Which chart applies for filing

Consular cases are approved against Final Action Dates. Which chart USCIS accepted for adjustment of status that month is published separately by USCIS and has not been transcribed here. How USCIS chooses the filing chart.

Every figure in this section is arithmetic on the transcribed tables: differences between two issues, runs of unchanged months, spreads between two countries in the same issue. The bulletin publishes no reasons, and none are supplied here.