Originally Posted by
H1b2006
March 2021 bulletin out, some of you are happy at the same time anxious. Please take a deep breath. Let me share my perspective. Most people have not seen this kind of VB dates move for EB2 atleast in past few years. Just a caution VB dates jumping up and down like a monkey is not new and historically has been there, Post 2014 onward started EB2-I in snail pace. Prior to that it was always roller coaster rides and EB3 had that for many decades. So Strap you boots, this kind of trend possibly will be there for atleast another year till End of 2022 if no law changes. May be we need a volatility index (VIX) for EB2/3-I. Historically it was due demand-supply gap , what later come back is retrogression cycles primarily due to demand shoot up. This year we dont need to worry about Supply side, because FY2020 FB SpillOver(SO)got us record level of "good surplus of Green Card 261,000 Green Cards instead of 140,000".
Not to worry for next few months till Sep 2021 bulletin ideally it should be forward movement for EB2/3-India.
We have a problem, The new villain is "Processing times". This would not make no sense for many, But hold your thoughts - think through it - if dates are moving wildly to a territory where runway is small(means Green Card issuance by Sep 30th 2021 i.e 8 more months) what can happen. To give an example quoting my friend who filed in EB3-I on October 2020 bulletin after waiting decade and his Priority Date is May 6th 2010, yes he is direct EB3 filer. He got his physical receipt 2 weeks back. Now his date is current for March 2021, will he get green card in March 2021? or June 2021? or August 2021?
I guess with above example , people will be able to realize have the new villain in town i.e "Processing times for 485" is going make or break for EB2-I and EB3-I.
Geerally once 485 is filed a person who is current in FAD ,it takes 8 months to 16 months to get Green Card, in some case its beyond that. These timeframes are pre-covid, now with covid, government efficiency is at rock bottom. Not their fault, but Corona situation has crippled most USCIS offices and they are working in 60-70% capacity. Just a week back February USCIS issued all receipts notices till October 30th 2020 filers.
Based on my calculation, Green Card Numbers wise there is enough GC for India to cover 2010 and easily to mid 2011 for both EB2-I and EB3-I and also good part is EB1-I is near current.
Department of State(DoS) who is in-charge of Visa Bulletin Final Action Dates(FAD) can even move the dates for EB2/3 to 2011, BUT PROBLEM is - HOW DHS/USCIS is going to issue Green Card? Without Biometric done(3 months from receipt), and background checks with FBI etc (takes 60 more days), how can USCIS issue Green Cards. Plus now we have Interview mandate, assume that will get waived off.
The problem of processing delay is not just for EB1/2/3-I ,its even for ROW filers , not fixing this will have catastrophic impact to FY2022. Needless to say India backlog this is golden opportunity to get to dates till near 2012.
If USCSI do speed up processing, review queues and process right application then there is good chance that almost all EB2-India and EB3-India filers in 2010 as well as till mid 2011 will comfortably get cleared by Sep 30th 2021. Else its is whoever on luck factor will get and residuals will get carried over to FY2022 which makes things worse.
USCIS should do below and roll up sleeves up step up processing focussing on right set of PD 485 to issue Green Cards. Point 1 and 2 below are super critical for new filers to get GC this year.
1) USCIS need to Collect Biometric ASAP who can be potentially current for Year FY2021 giving them Priority to EB1-I till 2020, EB2/3-I India till atleast till mid 2011.
2) On a War footing initiate background checks for the above so that they get FBI checks and all background is cleared.
3) Issue RFE for all 2012 filers of EB2-India and clear till May 2010 in next 3 months.
4) STOP Interview mandate for Employment Based Green Cards issuance. This stupid process for EB creates 3 - 6 months unnecessary delay for GC issuance.
Failure of this will lead to retrogression cycles for FY2022 and zig-zag movements again which is shame if we are back to old decade old problem where date can be stuck in 2011 or even go back.
The make or break deal is going to be how USCSI is going to improve processing, else by Q4FY2021 randomly people will get Green Cards on a wide spectrum and next year if its like a normal year, retrogression cycles kicks in.
Just visualize giving few example, So lets us assume there are 2 people A &B with exact same Priority date in EB3-I with December 2010
Example 1 - people in crowded Application Support Centers(ASSC) in East and West Coast , certain crowded cities where there is quite a backlog on getting Biometric issued, by this pace it is going to take till May/June.
Person A lives in New Orleans, LA and has his Biometric Done already in February
Person B lives in populous City in CA or NY, his Biometric delayed and possibly done by May/June 2021, due to covid/capacity issues in ASC
Example 2 - timing on application filed
Person A 485 case was filed during October 2nd week and hence was able to get appointment for Biometric in December/January and all his side is cleared including he got EAD/AP.
Person B filed 485 on October 30th and just got receipt in February and lives in a populous City. Ram jane when he is going to get Biometric.
Example 3 - Slow processing Service Center or due to his/her bad luck in paper work an RFE kicks in
Person A filed though have got biometric and his office just need to look at the file and issue GC.
Person B filed 485 on October 30th but just got physical receipt in February and lives in a populous City.
For all above 3 examples, the possibility of Person A get Green Card in FY2021 (ending Sep 30th) is high but Person B can get left out, get rolled over to FY2022 issuance and there how many SO will again drive his/her Green Card.
Good news as of now is EB1-India moved 7 months and soon will be current and that is going give vertical SpillOver to EB2-I. Another good news is EB3-I looks have legs now, it just need to run. Fingers crossed. So FY2021 now all bets are on USCIS hope they drastic "Processing times improvements for 485" to make it amazing year for Indians in backlog and get relief, hope all till 2011 get cleared by Sep 30th 2021. That will keep the ball rolling for FY2022. Fingers crossed.
--posted by gcseeker in trackitt