Practice Resources

Practice Pointer: April 2025 Visa Bulletin Briefing

3/27/25 AILA Doc. No. 25032701. Consular Processing

The DOS Liaison Committee provides the following briefing on the April 2025 Visa Bulletin and related adjustment of status charts shared by USCIS. The April 2025 Visa Bulletin shows forward movement in most categories, as compared with the March 2025 Visa Bulletin. USCIS will continue to allow filings based on the Dates for Filing Chart for family-based cases in April, but employment-based applicants must use the Final Action Chart.

EB-4 Unavailability

As announced by DOS on February 28 (after publication of the March Visa Bulletin), the April Visa Bulletin shows the EB-4 category as unavailable, having exhausted visa numbers in the category for FY2025. Accordingly, consular posts may not issue any visas, and USCIS will not accept any adjustment of status applications in any EB-4 category for the remainder of the 2025 Fiscal Year. The annual limits will reset on 10/1/25, with the start of the new fiscal year.

EB-5 Retrogression

With the April Visa Bulletin, EB-5 final action dates retrogress significantly for both China and India. For China the category moves back from 7/15/16 to 1/22/14. For India, the category moves back from 1/1/22 to 11/1/19. DOS attributes retrogression to “increased demand and number use by applicants chargeable to China and India, … combined with increased demand and number use across other countries.” DOS warns that it might be necessary to establish a cutoff date for applicants chargeable to other countries “if demand and number use continues to increase such that this category becomes oversubscribed.”

Highlights of April 2025 Visa Bulletin Changes

Except for EB-4 and EB-5, discussed above, no other categories become unavailable or retrogress on the April 2025 Visa Bulletin. On the Final Action Chart, F2A remains the same as March, but it moves ahead on the Dates for Filing Chart, which is important given that USCIS will continue to accept filings based on the Dates for Filing Chart for family-based cases in April. The bulletin otherwise shows forward movement on both the Final Action and Dates for Filing Charts.

Family Final Action Chart Changes for April

  1. F1 moves as follows
    1. Worldwide moves nearly 4 months from 11/22/15 to 3/15/16.
    2. Mexico moves from 11/22/04 to 1/1/05.
    3. Philippines moves about 4 months from 3/8/12 to 7/15/12.
  2. F2B moves as follows:
    1. Worldwide moves 2 months from 5/22/16 to 7/22/16.
    2. Mexico 6 months moves from 7/1/05 to 1/1/06.
    3. Philippines moves from 10/22/11 to 1/22/12.
  3. F3 moves as follows:
    1. Worldwide moves 9 months from 7/1/10 to 4/1/11.
    2. Mexico moves from 11/22/00 to 1/15/01.
    3. Philippines moves from 1/22/03 to 3/22/03.
  4. F4 moves as follows:
    1. Mexico moves from 3/1/01 to 3/15/01.
    2. Philippines moves from 10/15/04 to 1/1/05.

Family Filing Dates Chart Changes for April

  1. F1 Mexico moves 6 months from 10/1/05 to 4/1/06.
  2. F2A moves from 7/15/24 to 10/15/24 across all countries.
  3. F2B Mexico moves 6 months from 10/1/06 to 4/1/07.
  4. F3 Philippines moves 4 months from 5/8/04 to 9/22/04.
  5. F4 moves as follows:
    1. Worldwide moves from 3/1/08 to 4/1/08.
    2. India moves from 8/15/06 to 10/01/06.

Employment-Based Final Action Chart Changes for April

  1. EB-1 India moves 2 weeks from 2/1/22 to 2/15/22.
  2. EB-2 advances for all countries.
    1. Worldwide moves from 5/15/23 to 6/22/23.
    2. China moves nearly 5 months from 5/8/20 to 10/1/20.
    3. India moves from 12/1/12 to 1/1/13.
  3. EB-3 advances modestly for all countries.
    1. Worldwide moves from 12/1/22 to 1/1/23.
    2. China moves from 8/1/20 to 11/1/20.
    3. India moves from 2/1/13 to 4/1/13.
  4. Other Workers advances for all countries.
    1. Worldwide moves from 2/1/21 to 5/22/21.
    2. Philippines moves from 1/15/21 to 5/22/21.
    3. China moves from 1/1/17 to 4/1/17.
    4. India moves from 2/1/13 to 4/1/13.

Employment-Based Filing Dates Chart Changes for April

  1. EB-2 moves as follows:
    1. China moves from 10/1/20 to 11/1/20.
    2. India moves from 1/1/13 to 2/1/13.
  2. Other Workers Worldwide moves from 5/22/21 to 6/22/21.

All categories not specifically listed show no change between March and April 2025.

Diversity Visas

The April 2025 Visa Bulletin provides the number of diversity visas that will be made available by each eligible region and country during April 2025. It also provides the cutoff numbers to be used in May 2025.

U.S. Government Employee Special Immigration Visas (SIVs)

The April 2025 Visa Bulletin continues to include an alert that current and former employees of the U.S. government abroad who are awaiting the issuance of special immigrant visas might be affected by a provision included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that became law on December 22, 2023. The Visa Bulletin advises applicants who might be impacted to contact the consular post at which they filed Form DS-1844 for further information. The Visa Bulletin clarifies that Iraqis and Afghans applying for SQ and SI SIVs are not affected.

Special thanks to Elissa Taub and Claire Pratt for their work on this briefing.

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