| Preference Category | Chargeability | Change From Last Month?s VB |
| EB-1 | Remains current across the board |
| EB-2 | All Chargeability Areas | Remains current |
| EB-2 | China | Retrogresses 28 months |
| EB-2 | India | Retrogresses 40 months |
| EB-2 | Mexico | Remains current |
| EB-2 | Philippines | Remains current |
| EB-3 | All Chargeability Areas | Becomes available with 01JAN05 cut-off |
| EB-3 | China | Becomes available with 01OCT01 cut-off |
| EB-3 | India | Becomes available with 01JUL01 cut-off |
| EB-3 | Mexico | Becomes available with 01JUL02 cut-off |
| EB-3 | Philippines | Becomes available with 01JAN05 cut-off |
U.S. State Department Commentary About Employment Visa Availability
EMPLOYMENT VISA AVAILABILITY
Item E of the May 2008 Visa Bulletin (number 118, volume VIII) indicated that many Employment cut-off dates had been advancing very rapidly, based on indications that the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) would need to review a significantly larger pool of applicants than there were numbers available in order to maximize number use under the FY-2008 annual limits. That item also indicated that if the CIS projections proved to be incorrect, it would be necessary to adjust the cut-off dates during the final quarter of FY-2008. The CIS estimates have proven to be very high resulting in: 1) the ?unavailability? of all Employment Third preference categories beginning in July, 2) the ?unavailability? of numbers for China and India Employment Second preference adjustment of status cases during September, and 3) the establishment of many October Employment cut-off dates which are earlier than those which applied during FY-2008.
Little if any forward movement of the cut-off dates in most Employment categories is likely until the extent of the CIS backlog of old priority dates can be determined. It is estimated that the FY-2009 Employment-based annual limit will be very close to the 140,000 minimum.