Visa Bulletin for August 2000
Bureau of Consular Affairs
VISA BULLETINNumber 21
Volume VIII
Washington, D.C.
IMMIGRANT NUMBERS FOR AUGUST
A. STATUTORY NUMBERS
1. This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during August. Consular officers are required to report to the Department of State documentarily qualified applicants for numerically limited visas; the Immigration and Naturalization Service reports applicants for adjustment of status. Allocations were made, to the extent possible under the numerical limitations, for the demand received by July 12th in the chronological order of the reported priority dates. If the demand could not be satisfied within the statutory or regulatory limits, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed. The cut-off date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits. Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be allotted a number. Immediately that it becomes necessary during the monthly allocation process to retrogress a cut-off date, supplemental requests for numbers will be honored only if the priority date falls within the new cut-off date.
2. The fiscal year 2000 limit for family-sponsored preference immigrants determined in accordance with Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is 294,601. The fiscal year 2000 limit for employment-based preference immigrants calculated under INA 201 is 142,299. Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 30,583 for FY-2000. The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 8,738.
3. Section 203 of the INA prescribes preference classes for allotment of immigrant visas as follows:
FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES
First: Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Citizens: 23,400 plus any numbers not required for fourth preference.
Second: Spouses and Children, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent Residents: 114,200, plus the number (if any) by which the worldwide family preference level exceeds 226,000, and any unused first preference numbers:
A. Spouses and Children: 77% of the overall second preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit;
B. Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older): 23% of the overall second preference limitation.
Third: Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens: 23,400, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences.
Fourth: Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens: 65,000, plus any numbers not required by first three preferences.
EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCES
First: Priority Workers: 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required for fourth and fifth preferences.
Second: Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability: 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required by first preference.
Third: Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers: 28.6% of the worldwide level, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences, not more than 10,000 of which to "Other Workers".
Fourth: Certain Special Immigrants: 7.1% of the worldwide level.
Fifth: Employment Creation: 7.1% of the worldwide level, not less than 3,000 of which reserved for investors in a targeted rural or high-unemployment area, and 3,000 set aside for investors in regional centers by Sec. 610 of P.L. 102-395.
4. INA Section 203(e) provides that family-sponsored and employment-based preference visas be issued to eligible immigrants in the order in which a petition in behalf of each has been filed. Section 203(d) provides that spouses and children of preference immigrants are entitled to the same status, and the same order of consideration, if accompanying or following to join the principal. The visa prorating provisions of Section 202(e) apply to allocations for a foreign state or dependent area when visa demand exceeds the per-country limit. These provisions apply at present to the following oversubscribed chargeability areas: CHINA-mainland born, INDIA, MEXICO, and PHILIPPINES.
5. On the chart below, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed (see paragraph 1); "C" means current, i.e., numbers are available for all qualified applicants; and "U" means unavailable, i.e., no numbers are available. (NOTE: Numbers are available only for applicants whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed below.)
PREFERENCE All Charge- ability Areas CHINA- Except Those Mainland Listed born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES Family 1st 01JAN99 01JAN99 01JAN99 15MAR94 08APR88 2A* 01APR96 01APR96 01APR96 01SEP94 01APR96 2B 15MAR93 15MAR93 15MAR93 22SEP91 15MAR93 3rd 22JAN96 22JAN96 22JAN96 01JUL93 15NOV87 4th 01MAY89 01MAY89 01NOV87 01MAY89 01AUG79
*NOTE: For August, 2A numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 01SEP94. 2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are available to applicants chargeable to all countries EXCEPT MEXICO with priority dates beginning 01SEP94 and earlier than 01APR96. (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 15APR98 15SEP99 C C
3rd C 01JUN97 01FEB97 C C
Other 01APR95 01APR95 01APR95 01APR95 01APR95
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.
B. DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT (DV) CATEGORY
Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides a maximum of up to 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. The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NCARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulates that beginning with DV-99, and for as long as necessary, up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas will be made available for use under the NCARA program. This reduction has resulted in the DV-2000 annual limit being reduced to 50,000. 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 August, 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 28,850 Except: Nigeria AF 13,675 ASIA AS CURRENT EUROPE EU 21,000 Except: Albania EU 14,650 NORTH AMERICA NA 54 (BAHAMAS) OCEANIA OC 825 SOUTH AMERICA, SA 1,915 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.
C. ADVANCE NOTIFICATION OF THE DIVERSITY (DV) IMMIGRANT CATEGORY RANK CUT-OFFS WHICH WILL APPLY IN SEPTEMBER FOR THE DV-2000 PROGRAM
For September, 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 CURRENT Except: Nigeria AF 13,676 ASIA CURRENT EUROPE EU 21,030 Except: Albania EU 14,669 NORTH AMERICA CURRENT (BAHAMAS) OCEANIA OC 850 SOUTH AMERICA, SA 2,011 CENTRAL AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN
C. ADVANCE NOTIFICATION OF THE DIVERSITY (DV) IMMIGRANT CATEGORY RANK CUT-OFFS WHICH WILL APPLY IN OCTOBER FOR THE DV-2001 PROGRAM
For October, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2001 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 12,500 ASIA AS 5,100 EUROPE EU 14,000 Except: Albania EU 3,950 NORTH AMERICA NA 10 (BAHAMAS) OCEANIA OC 675 SOUTH AMERICA, SA 1,350 CENTRAL AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN
D. DETERMINATION OF THE NUMERICAL LIMITS ON IMMIGRANTS REQUIRED UNDER THE TERMS OF THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT (INA)
The State Department is required to make a determination of the worldwide numerical limitations, as outlined in Section 201(c) and (d) of the INA, on an annual basis. These calculations are based in part on data provided by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) regarding the number of immediate relative adjustments in the proceeding year and the number of aliens paroled into the United States under Section 212(d)(5) in the second proceeding year. Without this information, it is impossible to make an official determination of the annual limits. To avoid delays in processing while waiting for INS to provide the data, the Visa Office (VO) has always based allocations on the minimum annual limits outlined in Section 201 of the INA. On July 12th, INS formally provided the required data to VO, and the figures were much lower than expected. This has resulted in the annual limit for the Family-sponsored categories being raised from 226,000 to 294,601.
In an effort to make use of as many numbers as possible, VO has advanced significantly many of the Family-sponsored category cut-off dates. While the movement of the cut-off dates during August and September should allow use of a large percentage of the additional numbers, it does pose a potential problem. The amount of demand being generated may require the retrogression of many of the Family preference cut-off dates in early FY-2001 so that allocations will stay within the potential annual limits. VO will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates in monthly Visa Bulletins.
The Department of State has determined the family and employment preference numerical limits for FY-2000 in accordance with the terms of Section 201 of the INA. These numerical limitations for FY-2000 are as follows:
Worldwide Family-Sponsored preference limit: 294,601Worldwide Employment-Based preference limit: 142,299
Under INA 202(a), the per-country limit is fixed at 7% of the family and employment preference annual limits. For FY-2000 the per-country limit is 30,583. The dependent area annual limit is 2%, or 8,738.
E. RESULTS OF THE DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM (DV-2001)
The National Visa Center at Portsmouth, New Hampshire has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2001 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 90,000 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2001 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2001 (October 1, 2000 until September 30, 2001).
Applicants registered for the DV-2001 program were selected at random from the approximately 11 million qualified entries received during the one-month application period that ran from noon on October 4, 1999 through noon on November 3, 1999. An additional 2 million applications received inside and outside of the mail-in period were disqualified for failing to properly follow directions.
The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years.
Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested. Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the Immigration and Naturalization Service for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2001 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2001 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2001registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2001 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2001.
Only participants in the DV-2001 program who were selected for further processing have been notified. Those who have not received notification were not selected and may wish to try for next year’s DV-2002 lottery.
*The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NCARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NCARA program. The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV-2000.
The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2001 program:
AFRICA
ALGERIA 949 ERITREA 245 NAMIBIA 5 ANGOLA 9 ETHIOPIA 5,007 NIGER 18 BENIN 62 GABON 11 NIGERIA 6,017 BOTSWANA 21 GAMBIA, THE 72 RWANDA 56 BURKINA FASO 18 GHANA 6,000 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0 BURUNDI 11 GUINEA 283 SENEGAL 316 CAMEROON 653 GUINEA-BISSAU 2 SEYCHELLES 2 CAPE VERDE 11 KENYA 1,606 SIERRA LEONE 2,240 CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 5 LESOTHO 0 SOMALIA 2,364 CHAD 23 LIBERIA 1,193 SOUTH AFRICA 357 COMOROS 0 LIBYA 34 SUDAN 1,661 CONGO 45 MADAGASCAR 29 SWAZILAND 0 CONGO, DEMOCRATIC MALAWI 25 TANZANIA 231 REPUBLIC OF THE 596 MALI 59 TOGO 699 COTE D’IVOIRE 199 MAURITANIA 23 TUNISIA 83 DJIBOUTI 25 MAURITIUS 23 UGANDA 154 EGYPT 2,383 MOROCCO 5,000 ZAMBIA 101 EQUATORIAL GUINEA 3 MOZAMBIQUE 8 ZIMBABWE 91
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN 309 IRAQ 99 NEPAL 376 BAHRAIN 4 ISRAEL 115 OMAN 3 BANGLADESH 5,003 JAPAN 408 PAKISTAN 4,721 BHUTAN 1 JORDAN 80 QATAR 7 BRUNEI 0 NORTH KOREA 2 SAUDI ARABIA 88 BURMA 734 KUWAIT 47 SINGAPORE 41 CAMBODIA 152 LAOS 8 SRI LANKA 410 HONG KONG SPECIAL LEBANON 78 SYRIA 85 ADMIN. REGION 126 MALAYSIA 70 THAILAND 163 INDONESIA 369 MALDIVES 269 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 40 IRAN 740 MONGOLIA 24 YEMEN 201
EUROPE
ALBANIA 4,255 GERMANY 1,902 NORTHERN IRELAND 42 ANDORRA 0 GREECE 63 NORWAY 14 ARMENIA 989 HUNGARY 120 PORTUGAL 31 AUSTRIA 90 ICELAND 9 ROMANIA 2,370 AZERBAIJAN 300 IRELAND 221 RUSSIA 3,579 BELARUS 861 ITALY 141 SAN MARINO 0 BELGIUM 39 KAZAKHSTAN 876 SERBIA-MONTENEGRO 401 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA 59 KYRGYZSTAN 184 SLOVAKIA 331 BULGARIA 2,893 LATVIA 175 SLOVENIA 10 CROATIA 62 LIECHTENSTEIN 0 SPAIN 37 CYPRUS 12 LITHUANIA 1,200 SWEDEN 87 CZECH REPUBLIC 137 LUXEMBOURG 2 SWITZERLAND 167 DENMARK 45 MACEDONIA, FORMER TAJIKISTAN 46 ESTONIA 47 YUGOSLAV REP. OF 190 TURKEY 1,011 FINLAND 27 MALTA 4 TURKMENISTAN 48 FRANCE 260 MOLDOVA 269 UKRAINE 5,029 Reunion 1 MONACO 0 UZBEKISTAN 1,026 GEORGIA 287 NETHERLANDS 53 Aruba 1
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE 19
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA 333 NAURU 0 SOLOMON ISLANDS 0 FIJI 676 NEW ZEALAND 224 TONGA 55 KIRIBATI 0 PALAU 0 TUVALU 0 MARSHALL ISLANDS 0 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 3 VANUATU 1 MICRONESIA, FEDERATED SAMOA 8 STATES OF 0
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 1 DOMINICA 18 PERU 872 ARGENTINA 117 ECUADOR 1,167 SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 1 BARBADOS 4 GRENADA 3 SAINT LUCIA 6 BELIZE 4 GUATEMALA 27 SAINT VINCENT AND BOLIVIA 17 GUYANA 47 THE GRENADINES 6 BRAZIL 397 HONDURAS 47 SURINAME 0 CHILE 9 NICARAGUA 21 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 102 COSTA RICA 24 PANAMA 30 URUGUAY 12 CUBA 743 PARAGUAY 8 VENEZUELA 130
Natives of the following were not eligible were not eligible to participate in DV-2001: Canada, China (except Hong Kong S.A.R.), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
F. OBTAINING THE MONTHLY VISA BULLETIN
The Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs offers the monthly Visa Bulletin on the Internet's Worldwide Web. The Internet web site to access the Bulletin is:
http://travel.state.govFrom the home page, select the Visa section which contains the Visa Bulletin.
Individuals may also obtain the Visa Bulletin by fax. From a fax phone, dial (202) 647-3000. Follow the prompts and enter in the code 1522 to have each Bulletin faxed.
To be placed on the Department of State’s e-mail subscription list for the Visa Bulletin, please provide your e-mail information to the following e-mail address:
VISABULLETIN@STATE.GOV
The Department of State also has available a recorded message with visa cut-off dates which can be heard at (202) 663-1541. The recording is normally updated by the middle of each month with information on cut-off dates for the following month.
The Visa Bulletin can also be contacted by e-mail at the following address:
VISABULLETIN@STATE.GOV
Department of State Publication 9514CA/VO:July 12, 2000
Visa Services
27MMVIS.AUG 2000