DOS Confirms China-Mainland Born and India EB-2 Visa Retrogression as of March 23, 2012

Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of Visa Control at the State Department, has confirmed that, effective March 23, 2012, no further EB-2 visas will be authorized for China-mainland born and India applicants with priority dates of August 15, 2007, or later. Visa applicants processing in April at consulates abroad will still receive visas, as those numbers were allocated before the cut-off date was established. Mr. Oppenheim understands that USCIS will continue to accept applications for adjustment of status for aliens with priority dates prior to the date established in the April 2012 Visa Bulletin. Those cases with priority dates of August 15, 2007, or later, will be processed by USCIS to the point of approval (pre-adjudicated) and a request for a visa number will be forwarded Visa Control at DOS to be held in a "pending" file until new visas are available beginning with FY2013 on October 1, 2012. Mr. Oppenheim advises that an item in the May Visa Bulletin will address the EB-2 movement. - AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 12040447 (posted Apr. 4, 2012)
The announcement just confirmed the recent predictions by DOS. In summary, it means that applicants may still submit their I-485 applications through the end of April 2012 if their priority date is before May 1, 2010 (EB-2 cutoff date for India and China).  However, only cases with priority date earlier than August 15, 2007 will be issued an immigrant visa or green card; other cases will be put on hold pending new visa numbers being available.