Department of State Issues Revised July 2007 Visa Bulletin

The Department of State has revised its July 2007 Visa Bulletin to reflect that all employment-based immigrant visas have now been allocated for Fiscal Year 2007. As many of you are aware, the July 2007 Visa Bulletin had initially reflected that immigrant visa numbers were available for  employment-based categories other than “Other Workers” through the month of July.

The DOS has attributed its unexpected revision to backlog-reduction efforts by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that have resulted in the remaining immigrant visa numbers becoming suddenly unavailable. USCIS has made a subsequent announcement that, effective July 2, 2007, it will reject all applications to adjust permanent residence filed by aliens whose priority dates are not current under the revised July 2007 Visa Bulletin. 

Employment-based immigrant visa numbers will become available again once the FY08 begins on October 1, 2007. It is anticipated, however, that there could be cut-off dates for all countries in the third-preference employment-based category and for foreign nationals born in countries where immigrant visa demand has traditionally been high (e.g., China, India, Mexico, Philippines). We will continue to monitor this situation over the next several weeks and will update you as new information develops.