Visa Bulletin, December 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 22OCT00, in F3 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 131 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 143 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 41.6 months, in F4 for Philippines. The middle lead is 7 months and the narrowest 1 month.

Where this issue sits in the archive

This is issue 15 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 55.7 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, 3 advanced, 0 moved backwards and 72 stood still. On the Dates for Filing chart, 0 advanced and 0 moved backwards.

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

The largest advances

• EB-2 for India advanced 0.6 months, from 15JUL12 to 01AUG12. Over the three issues to December 2024 it advanced 0.6 months, and over the twelve it advanced 7 months.
• EB-3 for India advanced 0.2 months, from 01NOV12 to 08NOV12. Over the three issues to December 2024 it advanced 0.6 months, and over the twelve it advanced 6.3 months.
• EB-3 Other Workers for India advanced 0.2 months, from 01NOV12 to 08NOV12. Over the three issues to December 2024 it advanced 0.6 months, and over the twelve it advanced 6.3 months.

Where the cut-off fell back

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

Standing still

A cut-off that has not moved for a year is a fact about this issue too, and it is the one a reader waiting in that queue is looking for.

• F1 for Philippines had not moved for 14 months as of this issue.
• F2B for Philippines had not moved for 14 months as of this issue.

By country of chargeability

• All areas: none of the 15 country columns advanced.
• China: none of the 15 country columns advanced.
• India: 3 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 7 days.
• Mexico: none of the 15 country columns advanced.
• Philippines: none of the 15 country columns advanced.

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.