Visa Bulletin for January 2000
A. STATUTORY NUMBERS (This communication provides priority dates and other transitional information as taken from the State Department's Visa Bulletin released December 15, 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.
PREFERENCE All Charge- ability Areas Except Those Listed INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES Family 1st 15SEP98 15SEP98 22OCT93 22MAR88 2A* 15SEP95 15SEP95 22JUN94 15SEP95 2B 22NOV92 22NOV92 22AUG91 22NOV92 3rd 08OCT95 08OCT95 08JUL91 15NOV87 4th 01OCT88 15MAR87 01OCT88 15JUL79
*NOTE: For JANUARY, 2A numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 22JUN94. 2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are available to applicants chargeable to all countries EXCEPT MEXICO with priority dates beginning 22JUN94 and earlier than 15SEP95. (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 01NOV93 01NOV93 01NOV93 01NOV93 01NOV93
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 JANUARY 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. No one country can receive more than seven percent of the available diversity visas in any one year.
For JANUARY, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2000 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 AF 12,800 Except: Ghana AF 6,040 Nigeria AF 5,801 ASIA AS 4,940 EUROPE EU 14,200 Except: Albania EU 5,100 NORTH AMERICA NA 15 (BAHAMAS) OCEANIA OC 753 SOUTH AMERICA, SA 1,650 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-2000 program ends as of September 30, 2000. DV visas may not be issued to DV-2000 applicants after that date. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2000 principals are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2000. DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2000 cannot be taken for granted. Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30. Once all numbers provided by law for the DV-2000 program have been used, no further issuances will be possible.
27MMVIS.JAN 2000
© 1999, American Immigration Lawyers Association