July 2016 Visa Bulletin

This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during July for: “Application Final Action Dates” and “Dates for Filing Applications,” indicating when immigrant visa applicants should be notified to assemble and submit required documentation to the National Visa Center.

Unless otherwise indicated on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov/visabulletininfo , individuals seeking to file applications for adjustment of status with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the Department of Homeland Security must use the “Application Final Action Dates” charts below for determining when they can file such applications. When USCIS determines that there are more immigrant visas available for the fiscal year than there are known applicants for such visas, USCIS will state on its website that applicants may instead use the "Dates for Filing Visa Applications" charts in this Bulletin. Applicants for adjustment of status may refer to USCIS for additional information by visiting www.uscis.gov/visabulletininfo .

1. Procedures for determining dates. Consular officers are required to report to the Department of State documentarily qualified applicants for numerically limited visas; USCIS reports applicants for adjustment of status. Allocations in the charts below were made, to the extent possible, in chronological order of reported priority dates, for demand received by June 8th . 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. 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. If at any time an annual limit were reached, it would be necessary to immediately make the preference category “unavailable”, and no further requests for numbers would be honored.

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, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HONDURAS, 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.

For August , immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2016 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

CURRENT

ASIA

CURRENT

Except:

Nepal: 7,100

EUROPE

CURRENT

NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS)

CURRENT

OCEANIA

CURRENT

SOUTH AMERICA,

and the CARIBBEAN

CURRENT

As readers were advised in the May Visa Bulletin number 92, there has been extremely high demand in the E4 and SR categories, primarily for Juvenile Court Dependent cases filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for adjustment of status. Pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act, this has now required the implementation of E4 and SR Application Final Action Dates for Mexico, which has reached its per-country limit. This action will allow the Department to hold worldwide number use within the maximum allowed under the FY-2016 annual limits.

INA Section 202 sets an annual per-country limitation for preference immigrants of 7 percent of the worldwide level, to avoid monopolization of the annual limit by applicants from only a few countries.

INA Section 202(a)(5)(A) provides that if total demand will be insufficient to use all available numbers in an Employment preference during a calendar quarter, then the otherwise unused numbers may be made available in that preference without regard to the per-country limits. This provision helps to assure that all available Employment preference numbers may be used. Through late winter, this provision allowed countries with demand in excess of their normal per-country limit to utilize numbers that would have otherwise gone unused. Those countries were El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

By April, the level of worldwide Employment Fourth preference demand had increased to the point where there was sufficient demand to fully utilize the FY-2016 worldwide preference limit. It therefore became necessary to impose a final action date on those countries which had already reached their per-country limit, followed by those which would reach their limit in the coming months.

Readers should be aware that the establishment of the Employment Fourth preference Final Action date of January 1, 2010 does not mean that applicants are now subject to a wait in excess of six years. That Final Action Date is intended only to stop any further use of numbers by applicants from those countries under the FY-2016 annual limit, not to indicate how long it will be before applicants will be eligible for final action.

What are the Employment Fourth Final Action Dates likely to be for October when the FY-2017 annual limits take effect ?

Mexico: The Employment Fourth Preference category will become CURRENT for October.

El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras: A determination regarding the final action date(s) which may be required for these countries cannot be made at this time. Demand versus availability of numbers for these countries will be continuously monitored throughout the coming months, and official determination will be made in early September. Based on current indications which are very much subject to change, it is anticipated that the Final Action Date(s) for these three countries will be a date in 2015.

Worldwide dates :

F1: Up to two months

F2A: One or two weeks

F2B: Four to six weeks

F3: Up to two weeks

F4: Up to one month

EMPLOYMENT -based categories (August and September)

Employment First : Current for most.

China and India: A date will be established no later than September. Will return to “Current” status for October.

Employment Second :

Worldwide: Date likely to be imposed by September. Will return to “Current” status for October.

China: No forward movement.

India: One week beyond India EB-3.

Employment Third :

Worldwide: Up to one month.

China: No forward movement.

India: Indications are that there will be “otherwise” unused numbers available under the Worldwide limit. This should allow the September date to reach early 2005.

Mexico: Worldwide date for the foreseeable future.

Philippines: Likely to reach late 2009, possibly early 2010.

Employment Fourth : Current for most.

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico will be subject to the January 1, 2010 Final Action Date through September. That date will be applied to India in August.

El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are expected to have a 2015 Final Action Date(s) for October.

India and Mexico: Will return to “Current” status for October.

Employment Fifth : Current for all but China.

China: Best case scenario is March 1 st by September. Slow forward movement for October and beyond.

The above projections for the Family and Employment categories indicate what is likely to happen on a monthly basis based on current applicant demand patterns. Readers should never assume that recent trends in Final Action Date movements are guaranteed for the future, or that "corrective" action will not be required at some point during the year in an effort to maintain number use within the applicable annual limits. The determination of the actual monthly Final Action Dates is subject to fluctuations in applicant demand and a number of other variables.

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2017 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 83,910 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-2017 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2017 (October 1, 2016 until September 30, 2017).

Applicants registered for the DV-2017 program were selected at random from 12,437,190 qualified entries (19,344,586 with derivatives) received during the application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday, October 1, 2015, until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, November 3, 2015. 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 2017 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2017 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2017 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2017 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2017.

Dates for the DV-2018 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months. Those interested in entering the DV-2018 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-2017 program:

AFRICA

ALGERIA 1,561

ETHIOPIA 4,500

NIGER 34

ANGOLA 80

GABON 26

RWANDA 277

BENIN 617

GAMBIA, THE 46

SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0

BOTSWANA 15

GHANA 3,170

SENEGAL 357

BURKINA FASO 217

GUINEA 1,233

SEYCHELLES 1

BURUNDI 106

GUINEA-BISSAU 3

SIERRA LEONE 2,065

CABO VERDE 7

KENYA 2,090

SOMALIA 215

CAMEROON 2,096

LESOTHO 1

SOUTH AFRICA 427

CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 9

LIBERIA 3,105

SOUTH SUDAN 17

CHAD 52

LIBYA 274

SUDAN 2,522

COMOROS 5

MADAGASCAR 13

SWAZILAND 4

CONGO 94

MALAWI 17

TANZANIA 89

CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE 3,835

MALI 82

TOGO 963

COTE D’IVOIRE 891

MAURITANIA 27

TUNISIA 169

DJIBOUTI 53

MAURITIUS 9

UGANDA 240

EGYPT 4,501

MOROCCO 1,905

ZAMBIA 36

EQUATORIAL GUINEA 3

MOZAMBIQUE 7

ZIMBABWE 106

ERITREA 316

NAMIBIA 12

ASIA

AFGHANISTAN 285

JAPAN 204

QATAR 33

BAHRAIN 12

JORDAN 259

SAUDI ARABIA 253

BHUTAN 16

NORTH KOREA 0

SINGAPORE 20

BRUNEI 0

KUWAIT 101

SRI LANKA 375

BURMA 213

LAOS 0

SYRIA 356

CAMBODIA 824

LEBANON 183

TAIWAN 260

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMIN. REGION 37

MALAYSIA 39

THAILAND 41

INDONESIA 115

MALDIVES 0

TIMOR-LESTE 0

IRAN 4,500

MONGOLIA 144

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 97

IRAQ 302

NEPAL 4,000

YEMEN 694

ISRAEL 127

OMAN 9

EUROPE

ALBANIA 2,373

HUNGARY 153

NORWAY 24

ANDORRA 0

ICELAND 13

POLAND 517

ARMENIA 1,669

IRELAND 63

PORTUGAL 36

AUSTRIA 71

ITALY 443

ROMANIA 480

AZERBAIJAN 470

KAZAKHSTAN 518

RUSSIA 2,290

BELARUS 899

KOSOVO 348

SAN MARINO 0

BELGIUM 95

KYRGYZSTAN 292

SERBIA 376

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 119

LATVIA 64

SLOVAKIA 49

BULGARIA 666

LIECHTENSTEIN 3

SLOVENIA 16

CROATIA 36

LITHUANIA 183

SPAIN 204

CYPRUS 12

LUXEMBOURG 5

SWEDEN 94

CZECH REPUBLIC 53

MACEDONIA 286

SWITZERLAND 96

DENMARK 44

MALTA 3

TAJIKISTAN 414

ESTONIA 34

MOLDOVA 1,762

TURKEY 2,186

FINLAND 51

MONACO 4

TURKMENISTAN 91

FRANCE 467

MONTENEGRO 25

UKRAINE 4,500

French Polynesia 1

NETHERLANDS 82

UZBEKISTAN 4,501

New Calendonia 1

Aruba 2

VATICAN CITY 0

GEORGIA 680

Curacao 1

GERMANY 532

Sint Maarten 4

GREECE 86

NORTHERN IRELAND 13

NORTH AMERICA

BAHAMAS, THE 10

OCEANIA

AUSTRALIA 748

NAURU 5

SOLOMON ISLANDS 0

Cocos Islands 3

NEW ZEALAND 213

TONGA 42

FIJI 404

Cook Islands 8

TUVALU 1

KIRIBATI 3

PALAU 0

VANUATU 5

MARSHALL ISLANDS 0

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 6

MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF 2

SAMOA 10

SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 11

DOMINICA 8

SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 0

ARGENTINA 53

GRENADA 7

SAINT LUCIA 9

BARBADOS 1

GUATEMALA 29

SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 4

BELIZE 3

GUYANA 10

SURINAME 0

BOLIVIA 30

HONDURAS 44

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 34

CHILE 27

NICARAGUA 9

URUGUAY 12

COSTA RICA 18

PANAMA 12

VENEZUELA 1,134

CUBA 493

PARAGUAY 3

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2017: 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.