xavier2014

19 hours ago, RR159 said:

“The backlog will be cleared somewhere in the middle of next year”… famous last words:)  There’s no way of knowing that.

Mundo replied it. Look at the data

3 hours ago, Newbuddy said:

Did I make a mistake that I didn’t moved from f2b to f1 category ??

because at that time f2b moving fast little bit than f1..

Keep an eye on the Visa Bulletin. It's up to you whether you want to move from F2B to F1. The backlog will be cleared somewhere in the middle of next year, but until then, it's not predictable which category will move faster

The backlog is decreasing, but there's no reflection of that in the Visa Bulletin. I know F2B will move this fiscal year, but it appears those movements won't be promising. I think that right now, most of the documentarily qualified applicants are from F2A, they are the only category with Chart B being close to current, regularly going to IL pull.

It seems like they just copied and pasted the September visa bulletin. I was expecting that there wouldn't be any movement when I realized they didn't publish it in the first 10 days (it's a pattern). In the Aug. Visa Bulletin, they mentioned there would be retrogression. Let's consider the October Visa Bulletin both as a retrogression and, hopefully, as a positive development🥲. You can suggest to your petitioner that they reach out to congresspeople, but aside from that, what else can we do?

Does anyone have any idea how many F2B applicants are stuck in IL (as of 22 Sep 2015)?

In 2020 and 2021, approximately 122,000 and 150,000 family-based immigrant visas, respectively, went unused.

FY 2023, approximately 197,000 total employment-based visas were available, thanks to the rollover of an additional 57,000 unused family-sponsored visa numbers from FY 2022. The good news is that there won't be any rollover visas from the family-based preference from 2023 for 2024.

Over the course of three years, a total of 329,000 visas went unused. Typically, the family preference category receives 226,000 visas per fiscal year, which means that approximately 1.5 years' worth of visas were wasted.

So, the next VB is very important to set the tone for the next fiscal year. Reading some positive news, such as reducing the waiting time for an immigrant visa interview from 2 years to the standard 2 months, is encouraging. Additionally, someone who applied in September 2015 finally got their immigrant visa

7 hours ago, zaback21 said:

Dominican Republic with 1.5 times the F2B waiting applicants than Phillipines doesn't have the quota yet. F2B won't be fixed with that. 

Phillipines PD is in 22OCT11. 

Interestingly, they are present in F1 and F2A categories as well. In June, they were allocated 1750 visas under the F2A category. Without a doubt, this trend is likely to lead to backlogs in these categories unless visa distribution returns to the pre-COVID system.

By the way, the current PD (Priority Date) current situation is mainly focused on lobbying for H1B holders with pending Green Card applications.

Does anyone have data regarding F2B DQ waiting times for interviews? From that, we can estimate the number of applicants from 2016. I am assuming an average of 55k+ applicants from each year. It will take 2 years to clear the 2016 backlog.

After all, no retrogress. That's good news. Next month's visa bulletin will be interesting. I read that some members of Congress are writing to USCIS to make PD current, maybe not(all categories lol). I don't know if it would solve any problems unless visas are distributed evenly. Nevertheless, I am sure some of you would get visa next fiscal year, some would submit doc. Its a long ride let's hope for the best

Before the pandemic, DR had the second-highest number of F2B applicants, but it didn't hinder F2B visa movement. After pandemic, there have been concerns about clearing the DR backlog huh!. 

The unusual lack of movement in the F2B category for two consecutive years brought attention to the fact that DR is receiving half of the visas, impacting the movement of F2B. The State Department is aware of this situation, while people from other countries remain stuck for 2-3 years after DQ.

Writing to congressperson do impact probably, especially someone from respective states,  I came across a tweet from a popular Twitter account (US) stating the difficulty in obtaining a passport quickly(talking about backlog lol) for their newborn child. Some suggested contacting the congressperson of their state, and eventually, the passport issue was resolved with the involvement of a senator.

2 hours ago, Clarke84 said:

F2B did have a filing action date movement last year. Around July 2022 (which allowed me to file my I485 with a PD of December 2016). I had an RFE for my medical in April and was just approved for my combo card the day my RFe was received. So it looks like they do expect final action date movement  (at least I hope so!).
 

While visa issuance is back to pre-pandemic levels, at least for F2B - they haven’t gotten through the backlog caused by it. There’s not much we can do about it besides maybe bring it up to your Congress person or Senator.

6 hours ago, zaback21 said:

Here's the latest numbers after June 2023 update.  Dominican Republic received the second highest visa of this year in June. One more such month and I don't see how DR can not cross 7% or 25,620 visa limit of this year. 

wow after seeing this i don't think anybody from the Dominican Republic would complain or be as frustrated as we are. I heard that many family preference visas from 2021 and 2022 were shifted to the employment category, resulting in F2A being the hardest hit in the August Visa Bulletin. Although I am also curious about why the Dominican Republic is receiving half of the F2B visas, at least the visas are not going to waste in this fiscal year. Currently, there are 380k+ IV applicants, and I don't know how many of them are F2B, which will determine the movement in October.

13 hours ago, GusHD said:

Do you guys think we'll have progress in the September 23 visa bulletin? (October is when the number of visas renew).

If it regresses how much do you foresee? And when will it move forward again?

If anyone has a rationale behind the prediction it would help a lot!

It's challenging to predict movement in the category when it hasn't shown any progress for the past two years. One of the issues is the backlog created by allocating half of the visas to one specific country this fiscal year, leaving only a few visas for the rest of the countries, with an average of 5-10 visas per country (as most countries don't have as many F2B applicants as F2A). You can refer to my previous post for more details on this. Unless the State Department intervenes by prioritizing other countries as well, it's unlikely to see significant movement. Let's wait and see

Enough of this discussion about Canada PR; we are getting distracted from the original topic. My main point is that we need the attention of congresspersons to direct the State Department to ensure that each embassy processes a minimum of 10-20 F2B visas. Embassies should update the PD (Priority Date) accordingly, considering the number of visas that specific countries can receive based on demand. That's the essence of it.

2 hours ago, appleblossom said:

 

Personally I'd be cautious about doing that. Most Americans have no idea about immigration to their own country, and the US is very unusual in allowing certain family members (adult children, siblings) to be sponsored for an immigrant visa when no other country in the world does so. You might find you get an unsympathetic congressman that decides to campaign against chain migration instead, there's often talk of doing away with those visa categories (most recently under Donald Trump), I wouldn't want to add any fuel to the fire.

 

Or at the very least, check out their voting record first to make sure they're likely to be sympathetic to your cause! 😂

I clearly know and understand that family immigration or chain migration is a privilege, not a right that America offers. Australia, Canada not even offer PR for parents, no idea about UK. America is a special country I truly believe that, their founding fathers created a unique constitution, with constitutional amendments that protect crucial citizen rights not available anywhere else in the world. Although I had the opportunity to immigrate to Australia, I never took it.

Trump discussed skilled immigration, which already exists in the form of the H1B visa.

By the way, last time when I checked, family immigration programs remain open until Congress passes a law to restrict or close them. This creates curiosity among people regarding family visas, and even the existence of this thread is a result of that curiosity.

raise the issue to your respective representative. 

https://www.congress.gov/search?q={"source"%3A"members"}

16 hours ago, Boiler said:

Well that was the wrong thread so back to this one.

 

No whether a Congressperson staffer keeps up with the Visa Bulletin I do not know, I assume some do and some do not.

 

Not uncommon for categories to retrogress especially towards the end of the year, they are running out of visa numbers so have turned the flow down.

Nope congressperson doesn't deal with visa bulletin but queries regarding Family visa categories, they do expedite cases if possible by directing state dep. when they get request from constituents. If someone asked why F2B stuck or DQ but not getting the interview date even PD is current they can raise the issue to their respective representative. Ultimately, state department allocate visa number to categories, some say its based on DQ, some say its based on demand (some counties have more f4 issues, some F2B)

F2B fall into retrogression because they didn't allocated visa evenly instead greater demand from certain countries otherwise I don't understand how it will be retrogress after 2.5 years backlog already.

so F2B retrogression coming next month, F2A retrogress 3 years!!, although I don't understand how they would retrogress F2B, in 2020 Feb VB, PD was Aug. 2014, in last 3.5 years it moves only 1 year.

I heard each congress and senate Pearson have stuff handling immigration, I don't know they are aware of this situation at all. Its completely broken.

6 hours ago, zaback21 said:

 Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets an annual minimum family-sponsored preference limit of 226,000.  The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000.  Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620.  The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,320.

 

 

Ok here's a table I did. It seems Dominican Republic is on par just not too much over yet. So, that's even worse news. One country now basically keeping the rest of the world hostage.  

 

DR is going 2217 per month on average and they have 4 months left to cross 7880. So, they may or may not cross it depending on how USCIS decides.   

DR added a big backlog to F2B category besides covid, if applicants from other countries not rise this issue to NVC/USCIS I don't see this backlog will end soon.

41 minutes ago, appleblossom said:

The PD is on the Visa Bulletin, released each month - https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2023/visa-bulletin-for-june-2023.html

 

And it is possible that there is no movement, it just means that there are still too many people in the queue who applied prior to 22nd Sept 2015 and they're working through them. With a limited number of visas available each year, and far more people applying than there are visas available, the date won't change until those people have been processed.

I completely disagree with you. EXCEPT few countries most of the countries doesn't have that much of F2B applicant to face backlog. just look at 2019 data of visa issuance per month. I have already explained the possible reason of huge backlog created in F2B

Note: 26k F2B visa per fiscal year, out of that DR already got 9k+, still left few more moths to end this year, they will easily get 13k+ that means only 50% for RW

3 hours ago, Newbuddy said:

What about those who’s age going out or if they want to marry. This backlog will take extra time so is there any deviation for them any rule or law ??

without marrying you can have family Vietnam Philipines and DR F2B applicants most probably taking that advantage, if you get married F2B will get invalid unless petitioner become citizen to transfer your case to F3

To reduce backlog NVC need to follow 7% limit per country without that its a long journey, if they follow it most countries won't have any backlog in this category

21 hours ago, Newbuddy said:

 you may right

I think there is partiality with Indians 

I think its a demand basis system

Most F2B applicants are from Asia and South America

Month of May F2B visa recipient from Top Asians countries are

Vietnam -272

Philipines -206

China -31

India-28

derivative beneficiary can immigrate, as long as child is under 21 but not their partners since its an unmarried category.

I think you are right, that's why Philippine and Vietnam also getting 200+ F2B visas per month meanwhile India where there is no culture to have children before getting married only getting around 50 F2B visas per month.

Not so many countries have F2B applicants actually if you just remove DR from scene it would move faster than F2A.

now it seems it would be a long wait for rest of the world! 

On 6/8/2023 at 6:10 PM, zaback21 said:

There's a 7% county cap, which is why India, Mexico, Phillipines and China have separate Priority Date. Dominican Republic needs to have it's own PD else it won't move for the rest of the world. Last month DR received 2037 visas, my country only 5. 

I don't see any problem D.R getting 9K visas as long as rest of the world getting their fair share of visas not 7% at least 10-50 visas per demand.

I think embassy also do update interview date per category, they can limit visas instead on VB.

Otherwise people from other countries can raise this issue to their district/state representatives or NVC

So I was reading this from VB. Then checked monthly visa issuance for F2B, found Dominican Republic got 9k+ visa so far in this fiscal year. Isn't there's a quota per country where rest of the world not even got 50 visas per month. Only F2B stuck in VB for years. Now this retrogress warning 

"

D.  FAMILY-SPONSORED SECOND PREFERENCE AVAILABILITY

In the April 2023 Visa Bulletin, it was necessary to establish a final action date in the F2A category.  Number use has continued to remain steady, and it may become necessary to retrogress the final action date to keep number use within the FY-2023 annual limit.

Additionally, number use in the F2B category has been steady throughout the fiscal year, and it may become necessary to retrogress the final action dates for Rest of World countries, India, and China to keep number use within the FY-2023 annual limit.  These situations will be continually monitored, and any necessary adjustments will be made accordingly.

19 hours ago, zaback21 said:

PD May 2017 California. No idea when petition will be approved as petition approval date hasn't moved a day for the last 9 months. 

Fastest Approved Case in 4 year 2 month for CA

For Vermont its over  6 year 2 month

As far as I know nobody from 2016 got NOA2 yet let alone 2017