India Second Preference Visa Cut-Off Date Advances; Significant New India Demand Expected in Coming Months

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The India second preference cut-off date has advanced by more than three years, to January 1, 2008. In July, it stood at September 1, 2004. The Department of State’s Visa Bulletin for August 2013 notes that the advance is in an effort to fully use the numbers available under the overall employment second preference annual limit. “It is expected that such movement will generate a significant amount of new India demand during the coming months,” the bulletin notes, adding that “some type of ‘corrective’ action will be required at some point during FY 2014 in an effort to maintain number use within the applicable annual limits. Such action would involve the establishment and retrogression of such cut-off dates, and could occur at any time.”