Immigration Site

It says more retrogression may come.

Yes, it was a huge one. But I dont understand how it works.. If they have processed all the PDs for the past X years, how do they suddenly go back in time X years?

I mean, for F1, they were on Feb 2006. Meaning they have done all of 2005. Now, the PD goes back to Jan 2005... So, what else is there to do in 2005? And how does an increase in applications in 2010 affect the processing of 2005-6?

It is terribly dismaying for people who were thinking they were close..

Yes, it was a huge one. But I dont understand how it works.. If they have processed all the PDs for the past X years, how do they suddenly go back in time X years?

I mean, for F1, they were on Feb 2006. Meaning they have done all of 2005. Now, the PD goes back to Jan 2005... So, what else is there to do in 2005? And how does an increase in applications in 2010 affect the processing of 2005-6?

It is terribly dismaying for people who were thinking they were close.. The PD listed in the Visa Bulletin starts out as the best guess based on the information available at the time the guess is made. They consider how many petitions were approved in the past and using statistics of past actual visa useage they see whats on hand and what date they should publish in order for enough people in the pool to apply for enough visas to provide sufficient workflow. Once in a while they guess wrong and open up a window and get MORE applications than were expected and have to slow things down by moving the PD back.

Ive heard that argument, but I still dont quite get it..

If you are in line and take a number at a store, and you have number 40, and they are processing 30.. Then they call 31, 32, etc.. Then when they get to 38, a bunch of people come in and take numbers, and they go back to 29.. How does that happen?