Federal Agencies, Visa Bulletins

Visa Bulletin for August 1999

IMMIGRANT NUMBERS FOR AUGUST 1999

A. STATUTORY NUMBERS (This communication provides priority dates and other transitional information as taken from the State Department's Visa Bulletin released July 14, 1999.) On the following chart, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed; "C" means current, i.e., numbers are available for all qualified applicants; and "U" means unavailable, i.e., no numbers are available.

PREFERENCES

	        All Charge-
		ability Areas	CHINA-   	        
		Except Those	mainland    	        
		Listed		born	   INDIA	MEXICO	   PHILIPPINES

Family

1st		 01MAY98	01MAY98	   01MAY98	08SEP93	   22NOV87
2A*              08APR95	08APR95	   08APR95	22MAR94	   08APR95
2B               22AUG92	22AUG92	   22AUG92	08AUG91	   22AUG92
3rd              01AUG95	01AUG95	   01AUG95	01MAR91	   08SEP87
4th              22JUL88	22JUL88	   01NOV86	22JUL88	   15MAY79

*NOTE: For AUGUST, 2A numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 22MAR94. 2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are available to applicants chargeable to all countries EXCEPT MEXICO with priority dates beginning 22MAR94 and earlier than 08APR95. (All 2A numbers provided for MEXICO are exempt from the per-country limit; there are no 2A numbers for MEXICO subject to per-country limit.)

	        All Charge-	          
		ability Areas	CHINA-   	          
		Except Those	mainland    	          
		Listed		born	    INDIA     MEXICO	PHILIPPINES

Employment-  
    Based
1st                C	        C	    C	      C	        C   
2nd                C	        C	    C	      C	        C 
3rd                C	        C	    C         C	        C     
Other              08MAR93	08MAR93	    08MAR93   08MAR93	08MAR93    
Workers
4th                C	        C	    C	      C	        C  
Certain            C	        C	    C	      C	        C       
Religious				      
Workers
5th                C            C	    C	      C	        C   
Targeted Employ-   C            C	    C	      C	        C     
  ment Areas/    
  Regional Centers

The Department of State has available a recorded message with visa availability information which can be heard at (202) 663-1541. This recording will be updated in the middle of each month with information on cut-off dates for the following month.

ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE AUGUST 1999 VISA BULLETIN

B. DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT (DV) CATEGORY

Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides 55,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year to permit immigration opportunities for persons from countries other than the principal sources of current immigration to the United States. DV visas are divided among six geographic regions. Not more than 3,850 visas (7% of the 55,000 visa limit) may be provided to immigrants from any one country.

For AUGUST, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-99 applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries as follows. When an allocation cut-off number is shown, visas are available only for applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers BELOW the specified allocation cut-off number:

		    All DV Charge-                 
		    ability Areas                 
		    Except Those  
Region              Listed Separately  

AFRICA              Current        

ASIA                Current		  

EUROPE              EU 25,100        

NORTH AMERICA       NA     24   
(BAHAMAS)  

OCEANIA             Current    

SOUTH AMERICA,      SA  3,071    
  CENTRAL AMERICA,    
  and the CARIBBEAN

Entitlement to immigrant status in the DV category lasts only through the end of the fiscal (visa) year for which the applicant is selected in the lottery. The year of entitlement for all applicants registered for the DV-99 program ends as of September 30, 1999. DV visas may not be issued to DV-99 applicants after that date. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-99 principals are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 1999. DV visa availability through the very end of FY-1999 cannot be taken for granted. Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30. Once all numbers provided by law for the DV-99 program have been used, no further issuances will be possible.

27MMVIS.AUG 99