PWMB , Porting will be new demand for 2012
I think we will have dates moved to late 2007. PWMB and porting cases will create some demand for next year. CIS will be busy working on those and then they are going to move the dates to current in july 2012 to generate some demand for next year.
In my opinion the above scenario is pratical one.
The July bullitein is going to answer most of our outstanding questions.
DOS and the Law in FY2011
I just want to throw this out there, since it still leaves me with a nagging doubt.
To date, I don't believe DOS have violated any of the laws which the allocation of visas are subject to.
I said in an earlier post that DOS are constrained by the law such that they cannot allocate more than 27% of the available visas in each of the first three quarters of the fiscal year.
If we take the EB2 China and India initial allocation together, this means the limit is 5,606 * 81% = 4,541 visas by the end of Q3.
This year, that point appears to have been reached at the end of April. EB2-I had received the full 2.8k and EB2-C at that point had received about 1.7k. That pretty much exactly matches the initial 4.5k available.
However, by announcing in the May 2011 VB that at least 12k extra visas would be available to EB2-IC, the total figure suddenly became 5.6 + 12 = 17.6k and 81% became 14.3k (another 9.8k visas). Coincidence?
That has allowed DOS to continue issuing visas in Q3 without violating the 81% limit for the first 3 quarters and tallies quite nicely with the calculated usage for the forward movement in May and June (the last 2 months of Q3 FY2011).
In fact, it explains why the full 12k could not be allocated in May and June.
That gets me to thinking - if DOS are so concerned with staying within the law, it might limit how far they could advance the dates, if they waited until FY2012 to do so. Perhaps more correctly, how much approvable demand they could generate.
They would initially be constrained by the 27% per quarter (of 5.6k for IC combined) and even when Q3 starts in April 2012, they couldn't be too ambitious about how many visas they say are going to available - in case the situation changes. I don't think DOS can realistically make estimates of other Categories usage until at least 2 quarters have passed.
So, it leaves me with the nagging doubt that if the dates aren't moved in Q4 FY2011, it will be difficult to generate sufficient demand for FY2012, if DOS want to stay within the law, as they have tried to do this year.
Although they could generate some demand starting in Q3, as they have done this year, they would have to wait until Q4 for any push beyond that.
Demand generated in Q3 FY2012 might have a pretty reasonable chance of being approved within FY2012 itself - demand generated in Q4 would be unlikely to be approved. That might not be enough to cover the spare visas available.
Of course, I can see ways around this (but not strictly within the law), but it does seem interesting that DOS have chosen not to break that particular law this year.
Others may disagree and to be honest I haven't made my own mind up on the issue. I thought it was interesting enough to mention.