Originally Posted by
Spectator
I thought I would do a Teddy-like summary of where I think things will go.
Because of increasing Trackitt representation, I don't think there have been quite as many approvals as Teddy.
The initial allocation seems to have already been used. By the end of Q2, I think a little over 13k spillover will also have been allocated, which would equate to about 25k for the whole year at the same rate. With the initial allocation, that would be about 30k SOFAD.
EB2-ROW-M-P will contribute more spillover this year, but it will be offset by higher EB1 and EB5 numbers, so total SOFAD may be similar to last year. I believe EB1 will reach at least the mid 30's and EB5 will rise to 6k.
OR appears to be about 0.75 at present, but this may rise closer to 0.8 based on current trends.
If all cases were adjudicated, that would leave the COD at around the end of Q1 2008. Given that won't be the case, a final resting point of somewhere in 2008 is probable. I don't believe it will end in 2009.
Going into FY2013, there will be sufficient pre-adjudicated cases that COD will move based on those numbers. If CO releases the initial allocation again, as well as QSP, then reasonable movement might be possible in Q1 FY2013 from the ending FY2012 COD.
Movement of the COD will not go past the high water mark reached in FY2012 until the number of pre-adjudicated cases is nearly exhausted, similar to reaching the July 2007 backlog end.
A caveat to the above is that there is not sufficient information yet to assess the numbers of applications for March 2008 onwards. If they are lower than expected, then greater progress would be possible.
Such are the perils of prediction. Although 5 months have passed, it is only really 1 or 2 months in terms of collecting semi-reliable information.
We desperately need some information about EB1 usage. Trackitt, which has been fairly reliable, is horribly skewed by the large numbers of EB1-C approvals for India. It is worth noting that EB1A and EB1B figures are also increased, but the approval profile for EB1 was weighted to the second half of the year in FY2011. Arrgghh!