Visa Bulletin For June 2014

Number 69
Volume IX
Washington, D.C

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A. STATUTORY NUMBERS

1.  This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during June.  Consular officers are required to report to the Department of State documentarily qualified applicants for numerically limited visas; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security reports applicants for adjustment of status.  Allocations were made, to the extent possible, in chronological order of reported priority dates, for demand received by May 7th.  If not all demand could be satisfied, 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.  If 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 announced in this bulletin.

2.  Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets an annual minimum family-sponsored preference limit of 226,000.  The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000. 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., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,320.

3.  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.

4.  Section 203(a) of the INA prescribes preference classes for allotment of Family-sponsored immigrant visas as follows:   

FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES

First: (F1) Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. 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, plus any unused first preference numbers:

A. (F2A) Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents:  77% of the overall second preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit;

B. (F2B) Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older) of Permanent Residents:  23% of the overall second preference limitation.

Third: (F3) Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens:  23,400, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences.

Fourth: (F4) Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens:  65,000, plus any numbers not required by first three preferences.

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.) 

Family-
Sponsored
All
Chargeability
Areas Except
Those Listed
CHINA-
mainland born
INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
F1 22MAR07 22MAR07  22MAR07 15DEC93 01JUN02
F2A 01MAY12 01MAY12 01MAY12 15MAR11 01MAY12
F2B 01APR07 01APR07 01APR07 01AUG93  15JUL03
F3 01OCT03 01OCT03 01OCT03 22JUL93 08MAR93
F4 15DEC01 15DEC01 15DEC01 08DEC96 15NOV90

*NOTE:  For June, F2A numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 15MAR11.  F2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are available to applicants chargeable to all countries EXCEPT MEXICO with priority dates beginning 15MAR11 and earlier than 01MAY12.  (All F2A numbers provided for MEXICO are exempt from the per-country limit; there are no F2A numbers for MEXICO subject to per-country limit.) 

5.  Section 203(b) of the INA prescribes preference classes for allotment of Employment-based immigrant visas as follows: 

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 Pub. L. 102-395.

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.) 

Employment-
Based

All
Chargeability
Areas Except
Those Listed

CHINA -
mainland born
INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
1st C C C C C
2nd C 22MAY09 15NOV04 C C
3rd 01APR11 01OCT06 15OCT03 01APR11 01JAN08
Other Workers 01APR11 01JAN03 15OCT03 01APR11 01JAN08
4th C C C C C
Certain Religious Workers C C C C C

5th
Targeted
EmploymentAreas/
Regional Centers
and Pilot Programs

C C C C C

*Employment Third Preference Other Workers Category:  Section 203(e) of the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997, as amended by Section 1(e) of Pub. L. 105-139, provides that once the Employment Third Preference Other Worker (EW) cut-off date has reached the priority date of the latest EW petition approved prior to November 19, 1997, the 10,000 EW numbers available for a fiscal year are to be reduced by up to 5,000 annually beginning in the following fiscal year.  This reduction is to be made for as long as necessary to offset adjustments under the NACARA program.  Since the EW cut-off date reached November 19, 1997 during Fiscal Year 2001, the reduction in the EW annual limit to 5,000 began in Fiscal Year 2002.

6.  The Department of State has a recorded message with visa availability information which can be heard at:  (202) 485-7699.  This recording is updated on or about the tenth of each month with information on cut-off dates for the following month.

B.  DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT (DV) CATEGORY FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE

Section 203(c) of the INA provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year to permit additional immigration opportunities for persons from countries with low admissions during the previous five years. The NACARA 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 NACARA program. This resulted in reduction of the DV-2014 annual limit 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 June, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2014 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:

Region All DV Chargeability Areas Except
Those Listed Separately
 
AFRICA 45,600 Except:
Egypt:    28,200
Nigeria:   15,300
ASIA 7,425  
EUROPE 32,950 Except: Uzbekistan  17,500
NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) 18  
OCEANIA 1,185  
SOUTH AMERICA,
and the CARIBBEAN
1,425  

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-2014 program ends as of September 30, 2014.  DV visas may not be issued to DV-2014 applicants after that date.  Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2014 principals are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2014.  DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2014 cannot be taken for granted.  Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30.

C.  THE DIVERSITY (DV) IMMIGRANT CATEGORY RANK CUT-OFFS WHICH WILL APPLY IN JULY

For July, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2014 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:

Region All DV Chargeability Areas Except
Those Listed Separately
 
AFRICA 56,300 Except:
Egypt:      30,900
Nigeria:     17,400
ASIA 8,900  
EUROPE 36,300  
NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) CURRENT  
OCEANIA 1,300  
SOUTH AMERICA,
and the CARIBBEAN
1,550  

D.  RETROGRESSION OF JUNE CUT-OFF DATES

WORLDWIDE F2A: 
The cut-off date for the Family F2A category was advanced at a very rapid pace during fiscal year 2013 in an effort to generate demand to use all numbers available under the annual limit. Those movements have resulted in a dramatic increase in the level of applicant demand being received during the past seven months. This has required the retrogression of the Family F2A cut-off date for June in an effort to hold number use within the annual numerical limit. Further retrogression cannot be ruled out should demand by applicants with very early priority dates continue to increase.

MEXICO F2A:  
Despite a previous retrogression, the level of demand has remained excessive, resulting in a further retrogression of this cut-off date to hold number use within the annual limit. 

Employment Third, and Third Other Workers:
The unexpected and dramatic increase in demand being received from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service Offices during the past several months has resulted in number use approaching the annual limit for this category. As a result, it has been necessary to retrogress the Worldwide, China, and Mexico cut-off dates for the month of June.

Notices were included in several Visa Bulletins during the past year alerting readers to the possibility of such retrogressions. While corrective action in some categories has become necessary earlier than was anticipated based on the information available earlier, it is hoped that readers are not caught off guard by these retrogressions.

F.  DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY 2015 (DV-2015) RESULTS

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2015 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 125,514 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-2015 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2015 (October 1, 2014 until September 30, 2015).

Applicants registered for the DV-2015 program were selected at random from 9,388,986 qualified entries (14,397,781 with derivatives) received during the 30-day application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, October 1, 2013, until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday, November 2, 2013.  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 Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures.  Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2015 will end.  Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2015 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2015 registration.  Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2015 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2015.

Dates for the DV-2016 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months.  Those interested in entering the DV-2016 program should check the Department of State’s Visa web page in the coming months. 

*The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) 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 NACARA 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-2015 program:

AFRICA
ALGERIA  3,076 ETHIOPIA  4,988 NIGER  334
ANGOLA  173 GABON  81 RWANDA  690
BENIN  1,758 GAMBIA, THE  110 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE  0
BOTSWANA  12 GHANA  3,381 SENEGAL  620
BURKINA FASO  390 GUINEA  2,314 SEYCHELLES  9
BURUNDI  188 GUINEA-BISSAU  7 SIERRA LEONE  2,182
CABO VERDE  20 KENYA  3,534 SOMALIA  275
CAMEROON  5,000 LESOTHO  3 SOUTH AFRICA  924
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP.  33 LIBERIA  5,000 SOUTH SUDAN  21
CHAD  99 LIBYA  263 SUDAN  3,484
COMOROS  6 MADAGASCAR  62 SWAZILAND  5
CONGO  243 MALAWI  27 TANZANIA  231
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE  4,943 MALI  123 TOGO  1,824
COTE D’IVOIRE  1,487 MAURITANIA  29 TUNISIA  221
DJIBOUTI  77 MAURITIUS  55 UGANDA  642
EGYPT  4,988 MOROCCO  2,844 ZAMBIA  116
EQUATORIAL GUINEA  14 MOZAMBIQUE  11 ZIMBABWE  249
ERITREA  815 NAMIBIA  19  
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN  305 JAPAN  636 QATAR  51
BAHRAIN  12 JORDAN  374 SAUDI ARABIA  517
BHUTAN  45 NORTH KOREA  0 SINGAPORE  47
BRUNEI  0  KUWAIT  241 SRI LANKA  1,303
BURMA  453 LAOS  1 SYRIA  598
CAMBODIA  2,079 LEBANON  408 TAIWAN  498
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMIN. REGION  160 MALAYSIA  129 THAILAND  81
INDONESIA  288 MALDIVES  2 TIMOR-LESTE  0
IRAN  4,992 MONGOLIA  186 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES  195
IRAQ  289 NEPAL  4,991 YEMEN  875
ISRAEL  231 OMAN  15  
EUROPE
ALBANIA  2,946 GREECE  147 NORTHERN IRELAND  41
ANDORRA  2 HUNGARY  329 NORWAY  49
ARMENIA  2,049 ICELAND  42 POLAND  961
AUSTRIA  134 IRELAND  157 PORTUGAL  82
AZERBAIJAN  454 ITALY  779   Macau  29
BELARUS  1,466 KAZAKHSTAN  772 ROMANIA  1,068
BELGIUM  107 KOSOVO  227 RUSSIA  4,103
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA  171 KYRGYZSTAN  403 SAN MARINO  0
BULGARIA  1,418 LATVIA  92 SERBIA  399
CROATIA  87 LIECHTENSTEIN  3 SLOVAKIA  110
CYPRUS  32 LITHUANIA  287 SLOVENIA  11
CZECH REPUBLIC  125 LUXEMBOURG  0 SPAIN  393
DENMARK  65 MACEDONIA  436 SWEDEN  217
ESTONIA  71 MALTA  16 SWITZERLAND  194
FINLAND  88 MOLDOVA  2,809 TAJIKISTAN  528
FRANCE  816 MONACO  1 TURKEY  3,688
  French Polynesia  11 MONTENEGRO  16 TURKMENISTAN  191
  Saint Martin  1 NETHERLANDS  151 UKRAINE  4,679
  St. Pierre & Miquelon  2   Aruba  5 UZBEKISTAN  4,368
GEORGIA  804   Curacao  13 VATICAN CITY  0
GERMANY  1,354   Sint Maarten  1  
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE  14    
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA  1,798 MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF  6 SAMOA  32
  Christmas Island  1 NAURU  19 SOLOMON ISLANDS  3
  Cocos Islands  1 NEW ZEALAND  589 TONGA  123
  Norfolk Island  12   Cook Islands  14 TUVALU  1
FIJI  857   Niue  3 VANUATU  7
KIRIBATI  6 PALAU  6  
MARSHALL ISLANDS  1 PAPUA NEW GUINEA  20  
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA  6 DOMINICA  5 SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS  7
ARGENTINA  109 GRENADA  8 SAINT LUCIA  18
BARBADOS  15 GUATEMALA  86 SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES  7
BELIZE  3 GUYANA  53 SURINAME  11
BOLIVIA  69 HONDURAS  165 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO  193
CHILE  37 NICARAGUA  54 URUGUAY  20
COSTA RICA  72 PANAMA  19 VENEZUELA  1,556
CUBA  1,480 PARAGUAY  6  

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2015: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R., Macau S.A.R., and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

G.  OBTAINING THE MONTHLY VISA BULLETIN

To be placed on the Department of State’s E-mail subscription list for the “Visa Bulletin”, please send an E-mail to the following E-mail address:

listserv@calist.state.gov

and in the message body type:
Subscribe Visa-Bulletin 
(example: Subscribe Visa-Bulletin)

To be removed from the Department of State’s E-mail subscription list for the “Visa Bulletin”, send an e-mail message to the following E-mail address:

listserv@calist.state.gov

and in the message body type: Signoff Visa-Bulletin

The Department of State also has available a recorded message with visa cut-off dates which can be heard at: (202) 485-7699. The recording is normally updated on/about the 10th of each month with information on cut-off dates for the following month.

Readers may submit questions regarding Visa Bulletin related items by E-mail at the following address:

VISABULLETIN@STATE.GOV

(This address cannot be used to subscribe to the Visa Bulletin.)

Department of State Publication 9514
CA/VO:   May 7, 2014