EB-1 Retrogression and Not Likely to Become Current in October

Historically, at the end of the fiscal year, visa preference categories further retrogress or become backlogged for the first time, only to become current again on October 1. This has been the pattern for the employment-based first preference (extraordinary ability, outstanding professors/ researchers, and multinational executives and managers) for years. This year, however, the EB-1 category has retrogressed for September to June 1, 2016 for visas worldwide and January 1, 2012 for visas for India and China, and, perhaps more importantly, the Visa Office does not expect the category to become current in October. In fact, only limited forward movement is expected prior to December.