Visa Bulletin, March 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: 54 of 75 country columns carry a cut-off and 21 are current; every column has numbers. 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.
• 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 38.5 months, in F4 for Philippines. The middle lead is 12 months and the narrowest 1 month.

Where this issue sits in the archive

This is issue 18 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 39 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, 13 advanced, 10 moved backwards and 52 stood still. On the Dates for Filing chart, 0 advanced and 0 moved backwards.

Everything below is measured against February 2025, the issue immediately before this one.

The largest advances

• F4 for Philippines advanced 5.5 months, from 01MAY04 to 15OCT04. Over the three issues to March 2025 it advanced 8.4 months, and over the twelve it advanced 16 months.
• F3 for Philippines advanced 2.5 months, from 08NOV02 to 22JAN03. Over the three issues to March 2025 it advanced 4.5 months, and over the twelve it advanced 7.5 months.
• EB-3 Other Workers for All areas and Mexico advanced 1.8 months, from 08DEC20 to 01FEB21. Over the three issues to March 2025 it advanced 2 months, and over the twelve it advanced 4.8 months. Backward steps inside that twelve-month window: 1.
• EB-3 for India advanced 1.6 months, from 15DEC12 to 01FEB13. Over the three issues to March 2025 it advanced 2.8 months, and over the twelve it advanced 7.1 months.
• EB-3 Other Workers for India advanced 1.6 months, from 15DEC12 to 01FEB13. Over the three issues to March 2025 it advanced 2.8 months, and over the twelve it advanced 7.1 months.
• EB-2 for India advanced 1.5 months, from 15OCT12 to 01DEC12. Over the three issues to March 2025 it advanced 4 months, and over the twelve it advanced 9 months.

Where the cut-off fell back

• EB-4 for All areas, China, India, Mexico and Philippines fell back 17.1 months, from 01JAN21 to 01AUG19. Over the three issues to March 2025 it fell back 17.1 months, and over the twelve it fell back 4 months. Backward steps inside that twelve-month window: 1.
• EB-4 Religious Workers for All areas, China, India, Mexico and Philippines fell back 17.1 months, from 01JAN21 to 01AUG19. No longer window behind this issue is both complete and dated throughout, so there is nothing to set that against. Backward steps inside that twelve-month window: 1.

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 17 months as of this issue.
• EB-3 Other Workers for China had not moved for 14 months as of this issue.

By country of chargeability

• All areas: 2 of 15 country columns advanced and 2 fell back; median advance 55 days.
• China: 2 of 15 country columns advanced and 2 fell back; median advance 31 days.
• India: 3 of 15 country columns advanced and 2 fell back; median advance 48 days.
• Mexico: 2 of 15 country columns advanced and 2 fell back; median advance 55 days.
• Philippines: 4 of 15 country columns advanced and 2 fell back; median advance 75 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.