Dr. William:

I am very surprise today to find out that the State Department Visa Bulletin for October 2005 retreats the Chinese visa number of EB1 to January 1, 2000, and the visa number of EB2 to May 1, 2000. As a Research Associate at an University, is there anything I can do now to avoid the long time priority date cutoff and visa unavailability for Chinese? Please help!

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A: The official State Department's October 2005 Visa Bulletin confirms long time prediction of visa number unavailability for certain immigration categories, such as EB1 and EB2 priority date cutoff. It is VERY important that Chinese and Indians should take immediate actions now, before the October Visa Bulletin takes effective on October 1, 2005.

If you believe you are eligible for EB1 (EB1-EA, EB1-OR, EB1-Executive/Manager) or NIW, you should file the concurrent I-140/I-485 quickly, before the end of September 2005. If you have a certified labor certification of EB-2 categories, you should also file concurrent I-140/I-485 before the end of September 2005. It is critically important. Otherwise, you may need to wait more years to file your I-485 and even longer to get your Green Card, due to the long time visa unavailability for Chinese and Indians beginning at October 2005.