Previously, the monthly visa bulletin has served to update one date foreach category of permanent residence applicant - the priority datecutoff. This one date determined whether you were eligible to submityour permanent residence application, andwhether it wasexpected that there would be a visa number available, allowing yourapplication to be approved.
Now, the “Date for Filing”determineswhether or not you can submit the final immigrant visa application, andthe “Final Action Date” indicates whether or not itis expected that an immigrant visa number will be available.
In many cases, the Date for Filing will be well before the Final ActionDate, meaning that the alien applicants will be eligible to submit anapplication for permanent residence well before it is even possible forthe government to approve that application.
Therefore, those stuck in a backlog can getbenefits of apending adjustment - apply for a combined EAD/AP card, which providesemployment and travel authorization. Immigrants holding an EAD can workfor any U.S. employer, which provides significantly more security andflexibility than the employer-specific H-1B petitions that serve as thebasis for many immigrant’s employment authorization. Forfamily-based applicants, the EAD may be their first-ever workauthorization in the U.S., so getting that earlier is a great benefit.
Also, earlier filing of the final application means thatemployment-based permanent residence applicants will be eligible forAC21 portability earlier, meaning they can change employers, undercertain circ*mstances, without being forced to re-start their permanentresidence application from the beginning.
