Visa Bulletin, September 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 01MAR00, in F3 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 161.5 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 30APR01, 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 40.4 months, in F2A for Mexico. The middle lead is 8 months and the narrowest 7 days.

Where this issue sits in the archive

This is issue 12 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 23.4 months, and the largest is 67.8 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, 0 advanced, 5 moved backwards and 70 stood still. On the Dates for Filing chart, 0 advanced and 0 moved backwards.

Everything below is measured against August 2024, the issue immediately before this one.

The fiscal year ends with this issue (FY2024). Across the 3 September issues published here, a country column on the Final Action Dates chart moved 48.7 days forward on average, against 99.4 days forward across the 2 October issues.

The largest advances

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

Where the cut-off fell back

• EB-3 for All areas, Mexico and Philippines fell back 12 months, from 01DEC21 to 01DEC20. Over the three issues to September 2024 it fell back 23.7 months. Backward steps inside that twelve-month window: 2.
• EB-3 Other Workers for All areas and Mexico fell back 1 month, from 01JAN21 to 01DEC20. Over the three issues to September 2024 it advanced 1.8 months. Backward steps inside that twelve-month window: 1.

By country of chargeability

• All areas: none of the 15 country columns advanced, and 2 fell back.
• China: none of the 15 country columns advanced.
• India: none of the 15 country columns advanced.
• Mexico: none of the 15 country columns advanced, and 2 fell back.
• Philippines: none of the 15 country columns advanced, and 1 fell back.

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.