The State Department of the United States has published the visa bulletin for September 2024. The September Visa Bulletin issued by the State Department outlines the Final Action deadlines for the approval of a change of status application or the issuance of an immigrant visa.

The September Visa Bulletin outlines the number of immigrant visas available in September for setting Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing Applications, showing when applicants for immigrant visas should be informed to gather and submit the necessary documents to the National Visa Center.

In the September 2024 Visa Bulletin, the majority of categories have not seen any changes. The deadlines for EB-1 India are still February 1, 2022, and for China, they have been set at November 1, 2022. The rest of the countries are still in a current status.

Within the third preference group, there is a general trend of delayed deadlines, with India and China maintaining their original deadlines. For EB-3 India, the deadline will stay at October 22, 2012. China’s deadline will also stay the same at September 1, 2020. The deadlines for the rest of the world will be delayed by one year, moving to December 1, 2020.

The deadlines for the EB-5 Unreserved categories (C5, T5, I5, and R5) for India and China will stay the same at December 1, 2020, and December 15, 2015, respectively. The deadlines for the rest of the world will also stay current. Lastly, the deadlines for the EB-5 set-aside categories (Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure) will also stay current.

Employment-based Visas During September

There has been a steady increase in both USCIS and Department of State demand patterns for employment-based visas during the fiscal year. As a result, most employment-based preference category limits for FY 2024 are expected to be reached during September, if not sooner. If at any time an annual limit were reached, it would be necessary to immediately make the preference category “unavailable”, and no further requests for numbers would be honored.

Every month, the U.S. Department of State publishes a report that outlines the current status and the next step in the application process for immigrant visas, including the deadline for each type of visa. The Visa Bulletin adjusts the next step in the process for family-related, work-related, and diversity visa programs, taking into account the applicants’ home countries, their current visa statuses, and predictions of demand.

For the fiscal year 2024, the cap on family-sponsored preference immigrants stands at 226,000. Meanwhile, the limit for employment-based preference immigrants is 160,791 for the same fiscal year. The cap on preference immigrants from each country is established at 7% of the combined annual limits for family-sponsored and employment-based preferences, meaning the quota for FY-2024 is 27,075. Additionally, the dependent area limit is established at 2%, equating to 7,736.

The EB-5 Visa, also referred to as the employment-based fifth preference visa, accounts for 7.1% of the global employment creation, with 32% set aside in the following categories: 20% for immigrants who invest in rural regions, 10% for those investing in areas with high unemployment, and 2% for those investing in infrastructure projects. The remaining 68% are not allocated in advance and are distributed among all immigrants who meet the qualifications.

People looking to submit applications for changing their immigration status with USCIS need to refer to the Final Action Dates charts to figure out the right time to file these applications. If USCIS finds that there are more immigrant visas available for a fiscal year than there are applicants for those visas, you can consult the Dates for Filing chart. If not, the Final Action Dates chart should be used to decide when you can submit your application for changing your immigration status.

However, if a specific immigrant visa type is marked as “current” on the Final Action Dates chart or the deadline on the Final Action Dates chart is after the deadline listed on the Dates for Filing chart, individuals belonging to that immigrant visa type can submit their applications using the Final Action Dates chart for that month.

Allocations in the charts below were made in chronological order of reported priority dates, for demand received by August 2nd.

For September, F2A numbers exempt from the per-country limit are authorized for issuance to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 01FEB21. F2A numbers subject to per-country limit are authorized for issuance to applicants chargeable to all countries except Mexico, with priority dates beginning 01FEB21 and earlier than 15NOV21. All F2A numbers provided for Mexico are exempt from the per-country limit.