The forthcoming July 2024 Visa Bulletin is expected to retrogress in the employment-based second and third (EB-2 and EB-3) preference categories for worldwide final action dates, including Mexico and the Philippines. It is still unknown exactly how far it will retrogress, but the month of June has become a race to prepare and file adjustment of status green card petitions for applicants with current visa availability. Visa cut-off date retrogressions are a setback in the immigration process for any current or future applicant subject to quotas; however, it could allow for certain immigrant workers to become eligible again to apply for a green card if they missed a window of opportunity in their immigration journey. It is important to understand why this mechanism exists and how it affects foreign workers and applicants in immigrant and nonimmigrant categories.

As part of the Immigration Act of 1990, the U.S. Congress implemented numerical limitations (quotas) on five family-based immigrant categories and all eight of the employment-based immigrant categories. Because applications for these visas can be filed via the offices of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), or U.S. consulates abroad, the Department of State (DOS) is faced with the difficult task of allocating the family- and employment-based visas without exceeding the annual quotas for the government fiscal year (Oct. 1-Sept. 30).