11/18/2009

The USCIS Web Site contains some detailed charts regarding pending employment-based (EB) adjustment-of-status (I-485) cases. These charts provide a breakdown of the pending I-485 cases by country of chargeability, category, and priority date. This is extremely helpful in visualizing the volume of cases in each category, and the pending demand for visa numbers in each subcategory.

There are six such I-485 charts available with data regarding pending EB cases. One chart reflects all pending I-485 cases, by EB category, and priority date. The priority date breakdowns are only by month and year. Other charts further divide the information by country of chargeability. 

The chart for cases chargeable to India is the fifth chart in the group. The charts currently available, as of this writing, reflect filings through August 2009. The volume of cases is rather staggering, with the total pending showing as 233,816 overall, with 111,296 chargeable to India. 

EB2 India has a better picture than EB3, but the chart again will help to explain why forward movement in the Visa Bulletin cutoff dates is so limited. The current cutoff date is January 22, 2005 (for November 2009). The chart reports more than 7500 pending EB2 India I-485s with priority dates through January 2005, inclusive. 

For some, the information reflected on these charts provides a clear, though grim, understanding of why there is a queue and where they are in the queue of individuals awaiting immigrant visa numbers. Sometimes it is helpful to gain a better understanding in order to anticipate delays that lie ahead.