|
How Are Visa Bulletin Dates Calculated:
The Department of State is responsible for administering the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) relating to the numerical limitations on immigrant visa issuances. This information sheet explains the operation of the immigrant number allotment and control system.
1. HOW THE SYSTEM OPERATES:
At the beginning of each month, the Visa Office (VO) receives a report for each consular post listing totals of documentarily qualified immigrant visa applicants in categories subject to numerical limitation. Cases are grouped by foreign state chargeability, preference, and priority date. No names are reported. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) demand for adjustment of status cases awaiting forward movement of the applicable cut-off date are reported to VO as the cases are preadjudicated. During the first week of each month, this documentarily qualified demand is tabulated.
VO subdivides the annual preference and foreign state limitations specified by the INA into monthly allotments. The totals of documentarily qualified applicants which have been reported to VO are compared each month with the numbers available for the next regular allotment. The determination of how many numbers are available requires consideration of several of variables, including: past number use; estimates of future number use and return rates; and estimates of additional USCIS demand based on final action date movements. Once this is done,the final action dates are established and numbers are allocated to reported applicants in order of their priority dates, the oldest dates first.
If there are sufficient numbers in a particular category to satisfy all reported documentarily qualified demand, the category is considered "Current". For example: If the monthly allocation targetis3,000 and we only have demand for 1,000 applicants the category can be "Current”.
Whenever the total of documentarily qualified applicants in a category exceeds the supply of numbers available for allotment for the particular month, the category is considered to be "oversubscribed" and visa availability final action date is established.The final action date is the priority date of the first documentarily qualified applicant who could not be accommodated for a visa number.For example: If the monthly target is 3,000 and we have demand for 5,000 applicants,then we would need to establish a final action date so that only 3,000 numbers would be allocated. In this case, the cut-off would be the priority date of the 3,001st applicant.
Only persons with a priority date earlier than a final action date are entitled to allotment of a visa number. The final action dates are the 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd of a month, since VO groups demand for numbers under these dates.
VO attempts to establish the final action dates for the following month on or about the 8th of each month. The dates are immediately transmitted to consular posts and USCIS, and also published in the Visa Bulletin and online at the CA Web site (www.travel.state.gov). Visa allotments for use during that month are transmitted to consular posts and USCIS. USCIS requests visa authorization for adjustment of status cases only when all required case processing has been completed.
2. DEFINITION OF SOME TERMS:
Priority date: Normally, the date on which the petition to accord the applicant immigrant status was filed.
Allotment: The allocation of an immigrant number to a consular office or to USCIS. This number may be used for visa issuance or adjustment of status.
Foreign State Chargeability: Ordinarily,an immigrant is chargeable for visa purposes to the numerical limitation for the foreign state or dependent area in which the immigrant's place of birth is located. Exceptions are provided for a child (unmarried and under 21 years of age) or spouse accompanying or following to join a principal to prevent the separation of family members, as well as for an applicant born in the U.S. or in a foreign state of which neither parent was a native or resident. Alternate chargeability is desirable when the visa final action date for the foreign state of a parent or spouse is more advantageous than that of the applicant's foreign state.
Documentarily Qualified: The applicant has obtained all required documents specified by the consular officer as sufficient to meet the formal visa application requirements, and necessary processing procedures of the consular office have been completed.
3. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE SYSTEM AND CLARIFICATION OF SOME FREQUENTLY MISUNDERSTOOD POINTS:
Applicants entitled to immigrant status become documentarily qualified at their own initiative and convenience. By no means has every applicant with a priority date earlier than a prevailing final action date been processed for final visa action. On the contrary, visa allotments are made only on the basis of the total applicants reported documentarily qualified each month. Demand for visa numbers can fluctuate from one month to another, with the inevitable impact on final action dates.
If an applicant is reported documentarily qualified but allocation of a visa number is not possible because of a visa availability final action date, the demand is recorded at VO and an allocation is made as soon as the applicable final action date advances beyond the applicant's priority date. There is no need for such applicant to be reported a second time.
Visa numbers are always allotted for all documentarily qualified applicants with a priority date before the relevant final action date, as long as the case had been reported to VO in time to be included in the monthly calculation of visa availability. Failure of visa number receipt by the overseas processing office could mean that the request was not dispatched in time to reach VO for the monthly allocation cycle, or that information on the request was incomplete or inaccurate (e.g. incorrect priority date listed).
Allocations to Foreign Service posts outside the regular monthly cycle are possible in emergency or exceptional cases, but only at the request of the office processing the case. Note that should retrogression of a final action date be announced, VO can honor extraordinary requests for additional numbers only if the applicant's priority date is earlier than the retrogressed final action date.
Not all numbers allocated are actually used for visa issuance; some are returned to VO and are reincorporated into the pool of numbers available for later allocation during the fiscal year. The rate of return of unused numbers may fluctuate from month to month, just as demand may fluctuate. Lower returns mean fewer numbers available for subsequent reallocation. Fluctuations can cause final action date movement to slow, stop, or even retrogress. Retrogression is particularly possible near the end of the fiscal year as visa issuance approaches the annual limitations, or if there are unexpected surges in demand.
Per-country limit: The annual per-country limitation of 7% is a cap, which visa issuances to any single country may not exceed.Applicants compete for visas primarily on a worldwide basis. The country limitation serves to avoid monopolization of virtually all the annual limitation by applicants from only a few countries. This limitation is not a quota to which any particular country is entitled, however.A portion of the numbers provided to the Family Second preference category is exempt from this per-country cap. The American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21) removed the per-country limit in any calendar quarter in which overall applicant demand for Employment-based visa numbers is less than the total of such numbers available.
Applicability of Section 202(e): When visa demand by documentarily qualified applicants from a particular country exceeds the amount of numbers available under the annual numerical limitation, that country is considered to be oversubscribed. Over subscription may require the establishment of a final action date which is earlier than that which applies to a particular visa category on a worldwide basis. The prorating of numbers for an oversubscribed country follows the same percentages specified for the division of the worldwide annual limitation among the preferences. (Note that visa availability final action dates for oversubscribed areas may not be later than worldwide final action dates, if any, for the respective preferences).
|
USCIS Links
I-485 FAQ
Our Friendly Sponsor:
Find Us On Facebook:
Charts & Calculator:
Visa Bulletins & Tracker:
Our Friendly Sponsor:
|