Visa Bulletin, January 2025

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: 49 of 75 country columns carry a cut-off, 21 are current and 5 have no numbers at all. The furthest-back cut-off is 22NOV00, in F3 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 132 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. No numbers at all in any column of EB-4 Religious Workers.
• 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 49 country columns where both charts carry a date in this issue, Dates for Filing runs ahead of Final Action Dates in 49 of them. The widest lead is 44 months, in F4 for Philippines. The middle lead is 6.2 months and the narrowest 1 month.

Where this issue sits in the archive

This is issue 16 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 44 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, 29 advanced, 0 moved backwards and 41 stood still. On the Dates for Filing chart, 6 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 2024, the issue immediately before this one.

The largest advances

• F4 for Philippines advanced 3 months, from 01FEB04 to 01MAY04. Over the three issues to January 2025 it advanced 3 months, and over the twelve it advanced 18.5 months.
• F3 for All areas, China and India advanced 2.5 months, from 15APR10 to 01JUL10. Over the three issues to January 2025 it advanced 3 months, and over the twelve it advanced 14.3 months.
• EB-2 for India advanced 2 months, from 01AUG12 to 01OCT12. Over the three issues to January 2025 it advanced 2.6 months, and over the twelve it advanced 7 months.
• EB-3 for China advanced 2 months, from 01APR20 to 01JUN20. Over the three issues to January 2025 it advanced 2 months, and over the twelve it fell back 3 months. Backward steps inside that twelve-month window: 1.
• F3 for Philippines advanced 2 months, from 08SEP02 to 08NOV02. Over the three issues to January 2025 it advanced 2 months, and over the twelve it advanced 5 months.
• EB-2 for China advanced 1 month, from 22MAR20 to 22APR20. Over the three issues to January 2025 it advanced 1 month, and over the twelve it advanced 3.7 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 became unavailable for All areas, China, India, Mexico and Philippines. The category has no numbers left, so nothing in it can be approved while it stays that way.

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.

• F2B for Philippines had not moved for 15 months as of this issue.
• EB-3 Other Workers for China had not moved for 12 months as of this issue.

By country of chargeability

• All areas: 6 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 21 days.
• China: 5 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 31 days.
• India: 7 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 31 days.
• Mexico: 5 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 17 days.
• Philippines: 6 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 17 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.