The U.S. Department of State has released the November 2012 Visa Bulletin, which summarizes visa availability for individuals seeking U.S. Permanent Residence. As compared to the October 2012 Visa Bulletin, little movement occurred in the oversubscription date (i.e., the date on which the availability quota was met) for employment-based visa categories:
- EB-2 (professionals with advanced degrees or persons of exceptional ability): For Indian nationals there was no movement from October, with the cutoff date remaining at September 1, 2004. For Chinese nationals the cutoff date moved from July 15, 2007 to September 1, 2007. All other countries are current.
- EB-3 (skilled workers and professionals): The oversubscription date for nationals of India advanced from October 15, 2002 to October 22, 2002. A 66-day advance occurred for nationals of China, from February 8, 2006 to April 16, 2006. The date for Mexican nationals advanced one month, to November 22, 2006, and the date for Philippine nationals advanced 7 days, to August 8, 2006. There was an advance of one month for nationals of all other countries, to November 22, 2006.
- EB-3 (other workers): The oversubscription date for Chinese nationals advanced to July 1, 2003; Indian nationals' oversubscription date advanced 7 days, to October 22, 2002; and the oversubscription date for all other countries advanced 30 days, to November 22, 2006.
The U.S. Department of State also released the Demand Data Used in the Determination of the November 2012 Employment Preference Cut-Off Dates, which is available here. This document also lists the estimated total number of visas available for each employment preference category and country for fiscal year 2013.
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