The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has published the monthly Visa Bulletin for January 2025. Until January 1, the December 2024 Visa Bulletin remains in effect. 

The Visa Bulletin contains the DOS’s Final Action Dates chart, which lists the cutoff dates for each respective category, the categories that are current during the applicable month (i.e., categories that do not have any backlogs), and the categories that are unavailable. The Visa Bulletin also contains the DOS’s Dates for Filing chart, which usually progresses ahead of the Final Action Dates chart and which U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) sometimes uses to determine the date that Adjustment of Status filings are permitted in each respective category. 

For January 2025, USCIS has confirmed on its website that beneficiaries of employment-based immigrant petitions should use the Dates for Filing to determine eligibility to file adjustment of status (“green card”) applications. 

Key Takeaways for the Final Action Dates Chart: 

• No movement in the EB-1 category; all countries of birth except China (PRC) and India are current 

• EB-2 advanced forward two weeks for all countries of birth except China and India; China advanced by one month, and India advanced by two months 

• EB-3 advanced forward two weeks for all countries of birth except China and India; China advanced by two months, and India advanced by three weeks 

• Other Workers advanced forward one week for all countries of birth except China and India; China did not see any movement, and India advanced by three weeks 

• The Certain Religious Workers category became Unavailable; without legislative action, this category will remain unavailable beyond December 19, 2024 

• No movement in the EB-5 category; all EB-5 categories and countries of birth remain current except for the Unreserved categories for individuals born in China and India; both the DOS notes that it is seeing “increasing numbers of individuals processing their applications to completion in the EB-5 set aside categories,” so “[i]t may become necessary to establish Dates for Filing and Final Action Dates during the fiscal year to ensure that issuances in these categories do not exceed annual limits.” 

January 2025 Final Action Dates: 

Foster LLP will continue to track immigrant visa availability and provide updates about any developments via Immigration Updates©, articles, and blogs on our website at www.fosterglobal.com.