DOS Cable on China Third Preference Employment Category Retrogression
94 State 066887
Subject: Future Immigrant Visa Availability in the China-Mainland born Employment Third Preference; Cutoff Date Retrogression Likely
1. Effective March 1, the visa allocation cut-off date for the China-mainland born employment third preference moved to July 2, 1993. This made possible, for the first time, allocation of numbers for derivative spouses/children of Chinese Student Protection Act (CSPA) beneficiaries. (For addressees' information, July 1, 1993 is the most common priority date for CSPA cases.)
2. Since March 1, about 2,700 Chinese E3 numbers have been used by INS offices for adjustments of status of CSPA spouses/children. This heavy demand for numbers has significantly depleted the supply of FY-94 IV numbers available to the category under the per-country limit.
3. Posts should anticipate that, as a result, the Chinese E3 visa cut-off date will retrogress for May. This retrogression will temporarily halt further allocations for CSPA derivatives. It is likely to be several months before the cut-off date is able to return to July 2, 1993.
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Additional notes: In conversations with AILA staff, Seton Stapleton, Chief of Immigrant Visa Control & Reporting at the Department of State, made the following points:
* This cable was distributed to INS offices; INS offices will accordingly curtail the distribution of any more visas in this category until more numbers become available.
* No additional visa numbers are anticipated to be available for several months.
* This shortage applies only to the China E3 category and will only cause delays for the spouses/children of CSPA beneficiaries. The CSPA beneficiaries themselves are unaffected by this shortage as the Act provides for an exemption from any per-country numerical limits for CSPA beneficiaries.
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