U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently reported that it has seen a decline in the number of EB-1 petitions received since October 2010. This reduction allowed these unused numbers, about 12,000, to drop down to the EB-2 category.

The unused EB-1 numbers were used in the EB-2 category in priority date order and were allotted to the country which has the earliest priority dates, which was India. As a result, the EB-2 category for India advanced approximately two months in the May visa bulletin. For the requirements for an EB-1 Petition, an EB-2 Petition, and the May visa bulletin, please click the links above.