Visa Bulletin, May 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 22JUL99, in F3 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 164.7 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 22APR01, 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 41.5 months, in F1 for Mexico. The middle lead is 5 months and the narrowest 14 days.

Where this issue sits in the archive

This is issue 8 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 25.4 months, and the largest is 74.5 months, in F1 for Mexico. 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, 23 advanced, 0 moved backwards and 47 stood still. On the Dates for Filing chart, 7 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 April 2024, the issue immediately before this one.

The largest advances

• F3 for Mexico advanced 10.4 months, from 08SEP98 to 22JUL99. Over the three issues to May 2024 it advanced 10.4 months.
• F2A for All areas, China, India and Philippines advanced 8.7 months, from 08SEP20 to 01JUN21. Over the three issues to May 2024 it advanced 15.7 months.
• F1 for Mexico advanced 5.5 months, from 01MAY01 to 15OCT01. Over the three issues to May 2024 it advanced 5.5 months.
• F1 for All areas, China and India advanced 4.9 months, from 08FEB15 to 08JUL15. Over the three issues to May 2024 it advanced 6.2 months.
• F2B for All areas, China and India advanced 4.3 months, from 22NOV15 to 01APR16. Over the three issues to May 2024 it advanced 6 months.
• F2B for Mexico advanced 4.3 months, from 22OCT03 to 01MAR04. Over the three issues to May 2024 it advanced 4.3 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: 5 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 131 days.
• China: 5 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 131 days.
• India: 5 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 131 days.
• Mexico: 5 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 131 days.
• Philippines: 3 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 85 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.