The U.S. Department of State (DOS) published the October 2023 Visa Bulletin and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will accept both family and employment-based (EB) adjustments based on Dates for Filing. Consular processing will be evaluated by the Department of State based on the Final Action table.
The USCIS has also updates its FAQ on the EB’s visa annual limit, which states, "With the start of fiscal year 2024, DOS can begin allocating employment-based visa numbers from the FY 2024 limit, estimated to be 165,000. As a result, we see a measure of recovery from the retrogressions of FY 2023 in all categories. Every Final Action Date in the Visa Bulletin has advanced from its level in September 2023 (or remained the same), and on October 1, 2023, USCIS and DOS will begin completing the adjudication of applications filed by noncitizens for whom visas become available."
The cutoff dates for most EB’s visa categories have moved forward, indicating that there are more visa numbers available for Fiscal Year 2024. These date changes are made to ensure that visa issuances stay within quarterly limits as defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sections 201(a)(2) and 203(g). There is a possibility of further date advances throughout the fiscal year, but the actual movement of these dates will depend on the demand for visas and how they are issued during Fiscal Year 2024.