According to the State Department August Visa Bulletin, the Employment Based First Preference Category (EB-1) Final Action Dates for "Priority Workers" will retrogress for the month of August 2018. Priority Workers include Persons of Extraordinary Ability (EB-1A), Outstanding Professors and Researchers (EB-1B), and Multinational Executives and Managers (EB-1C).
The Worldwide EB-1 Priority Date will retrogress to May 1, 2016. The China and India EB-1 Priority Dates will retrogress to January 1, 2012. El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Philippines, and Viet Nam will retrogress to May 1, 2016.
The retrogression of the EB-1 Priority Dates reflects the heavy demand for immigrant visas under the EB-1 category that USCIS is currently experiencing.
We do not expect the EB-1 Final Action Priority Dates to change for the remainder of the fiscal year. We are hopeful that the Worldwide EB-1 Priority Date will become "current" again at the start of the new fiscal year for USCIS in October or November of 2018.
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