Mar2603,
Back in January, I wrote a post about how I thought CO should move the Cut Off Dates for EB3-ROW as the Inventory became exhausted. You can find it
here. In the post, I explain why and the consequences of not doing so. We are now seeing the possibility of some of those consequences becoming true.
I mean CO should have at least continued to move the Cut Off Dates, rather than stopping at 01JAN09.
I do think the early movement was too slow and he should have reached the end of 2008 at least a month earlier.
I agree with that. If you consider that the ratio of EB2:EB3 PERM has swung heavily towards EB2, the EB3 numbers must have dropped significantly, regardless of the lower PERM numbers.
I believe the last published DOS Demand Data it is an accurate representation of the Demand that
DOS can see. DOS cannot "see" cases that USCIS have not adjudicated.
The 6-8 weeks comment was for the numbers to appear even in USCIS own Inventory Report. DOS won't see the Demand for 3-6 months, depending how fast USCIS process the cases.
I think the recently published USCIS July Inventory reflects only a small fraction of the cases actually submitted to that date by EB3-ROW. Judging by EB2-IC last year, it will take several months to properly reflect the numbers. The earliest USCIS Invenry I would even remotely trust would be in May 2014.
The retrogression question is more tricky and subjective.
By the time October starts, the oldest "new" cases from May 2013 will be 5 months old. Even July 2013 cases will be 4 months old by the end of October. There has to be a high chance that USCIS will adjudicate many of those cases through October. That will be Demand against the 2.6k that EB3-ROW may have available for October 2013. With that in mind, there is a high likelihood, if CO takes that possibility into consideration, that EB3-ROW will retrogress in October back into 2008.