September 2019 Visa Bulletin

D. AVAILABILITY OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED FIRST, SECOND and FIFTH PREFERENCE NUMBERS

There has been a combination of a dramatic change in the USCIS demand pattern for adjustment of status applicants during July, and a larger than anticipated return of unused numbers which had been provided to consular offices for July use. As a result, it has been possible to advance the Employment First and Second preference September final action dates for most countries, as well as the India Employment Fifth preference.

E. SEVERAL EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CATEGORIES HAVE RETROGRESSED OR BECOME “UNAVAILABLE” FOR THE REMAINDER OF FISCAL YEAR 2019

Worldwide Employment Fourth (E4): Since June, USCIS demand for E4 numbers, primarily for Juvenile Court Dependent adjustment of status applicants, has increased dramatically. This has resulted in the E4 annual limit having been reached. Therefore, it has been necessary to make the entire E4 category “Unavailable” for September, and implement this effective immediately.

China – Employment First (E1) and Third Preferences (E3): Despite the earlier retrogression of the China E1 final action date, USCIS demand for adjustment of status applicants with priority dates earlier than that date remains excessive. Therefore, it has been necessary to retrogress the China E1 final action date once again. A dramatic increase in USCIS demand for China E3 numbers has also required the retrogression of that date in an effort to limit future number use under that annual limit. Both of these retrogressed September dates will be imposed immediately.

India – Employment First (E1) and Third Preferences (E3): Despite the earlier retrogression of the India E1 and E3 final action dates, USCIS demand for adjustment of status applicants with priority dates earlier than those dates remained excessive. Therefore, it was necessary to make the India E1 final action date “Unavailable” earlier in July, and it will remain so for the remainder of FY-2019. The India Employment Third preference date has been retrogressed and that date will be imposed immediately.

It is likely that corrective action will also be required for other preferences prior to the end of the fiscal year.

Numbers will once again be available for applicants in the above mentioned preferences beginning October 1, 2019 under the FY-2020 annual numerical limitations. Every effort will be made to return these final action dates to (at least) the dates which had originally been announced for August.

F. 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 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regarding the number of immediate relative adjustments in the preceding year and the number of aliens paroled into the United States under Section 212(d)(5) in the second preceding year. Without this information, it is impossible to make an official determination of the annual limits. To avoid delays in processing while waiting for the USCIS data, the Visa Office (VO) bases allocations on the minimum annual limits outlined in Section 201 of the INA. On July 17th, USCIS provided the required data to VO.

The Department of State has determined the Family and Employment preference numerical limits for FY-2019 in accordance with the terms of Section 201 of the INA. These numerical limitations for FY-2019 are as follows:

Worldwide Family-Sponsored preference limit: 226,000
Worldwide Employment-Based preference limit: 141,918

Under INA Section 202(a), the per-country limit is fixed at 7% of the family and employment annual limits. For FY-2019 the per-country limit is 25,754. The dependent area annual limit is 2%, or 7,358.