September 2020 Visa Bulletin

This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during September for: “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 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website at www.uscis.gov/visabulletininfo , individuals seeking to file applications for adjustment of status with USCIS in the Department of Homeland Security must use the “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.

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 August 10th . If not all demand could be satisfied, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed. The final action 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 final action date, supplemental requests for numbers will be honored only if the priority date falls within the new final action 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. The fiscal year 2020 limit for family-sponsored preference immigrants determined in accordance with Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is 226,000. The fiscal year 2020 limit for employment-based preference immigrants calculated under INA 201 is 156,253. 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., 25,754 for FY-2020. The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,645.

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, PHILIPPINES, and VIETNAM.

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 October , immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2021 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

2,900

Except: Egypt 2,700

ASIA

1,600

Except: Iran 1,000

Nepal 1,050

EUROPE

2,500

NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS)

2

OCEANIA

250

SOUTH AMERICA,

and the CARIBBEAN

350

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2021 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *55,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 132,404 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 *55,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2021 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2021 (October 1, 2020 until September 30, 2021).

Applicants registered for the DV-2021 program were selected at random from 6,741,128 qualified entries (11,830,707 with derivatives) received during the 35-day application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, October 2, 2019, until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, November 6, 2019. 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 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *55,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2021 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2021 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2021 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2021 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2021.

Dates for the DV-2022 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months. Those interested in entering the DV-2022 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. This will result in reduction of the DV-2021 annual limit to approximately 54,750.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign state of chargeability of those registered for the DV-2021 program:

AFRICA

ALGERIA 6,001

ESWATINI 3

NAMIBIA 0

ANGOLA 627

ETHIOPIA 3,957

NIGER 55

BENIN 830

GABON 65

RWANDA 1,067

BOTSWANA 3

GAMBIA, THE 71

SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0

BURKINA FASO 83

GHANA 3,284

SENEGAL 167

BURUNDI 398

GUINEA 805

SEYCHELLES 4

CABO VERDE 6

GUINEA-BISSAU 7

SIERRA LEONE 504

CAMEROON 3,686

KENYA 2,777

SOMALIA 217

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 22

LESOTHO 3

SOUTH AFRICA 510

CHAD 191

LIBERIA 1,858

SOUTH SUDAN 40

COMOROS 10

LIBYA 259

SUDAN 6,001

CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE 4,503

MADAGASCAR 23

TANZANIA 184

CONGO, REPUBLIC OF THE 740

MALAWI 32

TOGO 1,118

COTE D’IVOIRE 737

MALI 103

TUNISIA 173

DJIBOUTI 175

MAURITANIA 105

UGANDA 908

EGYPT 6,002

MAURITIUS 12

ZAMBIA 67

EQUATORIAL GUINEA 6

MOROCCO 4,458

ZIMBABWE 276

ERITREA 509

MOZAMBIQUE 7

ASIA

AFGHANISTAN 2,189

JAPAN 532

QATAR 82

BAHRAIN 19

JORDAN 1,578

SAUDI ARABIA 1,126

BHUTAN 69

KOREA, NORTH 3

SINGAPORE 40

BRUNEI 1

KUWAIT 302

SRI LANKA 1,566

BURMA 776

LAOS 43

SYRIA 487

CAMBODIA 1,174

LEBANON 249

TAIWAN 693

HONG KONG S.A.R. 569

MALAYSIA 95

THAILAND 290

INDONESIA 317

MALDIVES 0

TIMOR-LESTE 0

IRAN 6,001

MONGOLIA 496

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 282

IRAQ 1,184

NEPAL 3,801

YEMEN 1,222

ISRAEL 190

OMAN 32

EUROPE

ALBANIA 3,962

GREECE 71

NORTHERN IRELAND 4

ANDORRA 0

HUNGARY 93

NORWAY 7

ARMENIA 2,293

ICELAND 11

POLAND 383

AUSTRIA 35

IRELAND 29

PORTUGAL 24

AZERBAIJAN 1,439

ITALY 289

Macau 6

BELARUS 2,143

KAZAKHSTAN 2,406

ROMANIA 365

BELGIUM 32

KOSOVO 311

RUSSIA 6,001

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 36

KYRGYZSTAN 2,130

SERBIA 239

BULGARIA 348

LATVIA 63

SLOVAKIA 23

CROATIA 32

LIECHTENSTEIN 1

SLOVENIA 6

CYPRUS 2

LITHUANIA 180

SPAIN 114

CZECH REPUBLIC 44

LUXEMBOURG 0

SWEDEN 41

DENMARK 24

MALTA 5

SWITZERLAND 48

ESTONIA 18

MOLDOOVA 1,565

TAJIKISTAN 2,332

FINLAND 26

MONACO 1

TURKEY 2,874

FRANCE 272

MONTENEGRO 33

TURKMENISTAN 870

Saint Martin 6

NETHERLANDS 43

UKRAINE 5,604

GEORGIA 1,899

Curacao 1

UZBEKISTAN 5,319

GERMANY 563

NORTH MACEDONIA 336

VATICAN CITY 0

NORTH AMERICA

BAHAMAS, THE 29

OCEANIA

AUSTRALIA 1,130

NAURU 11

SAMOA 8

Cocos Keeling Islands 19

NEW ZEALAND 360

SOLOMON ISLANDS 4

FIJI 1,087

Cook Islands 32

TONGA 95

KIRIBATI 12

Tokelau 5

TUVALU 2

MARSHALL ISLANDS 0

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 29

VANUATU 7

MICRONESIA, FEDERATED

STATES OF 9

PALAU 5

SOUTH AMERICA

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 5

DOMINICA 3

PERU 1,559

ARGENTINA 191

ECUADOR 246

SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 1

BARBADOS 5

GRENADA 1

SAINT LUCIA 2

BELIZE 8

GUYANA 5

SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 3

BOLIVIA 38

HONDURAS 74

SURINAME 4

CHILE 36

NICARAGUA 69

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 44

COSTA RICA 68

PANAMA 10

URUGUAY 19

CUBA 1,235

PARAGUAY 3

VENEZUELA 1,872

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2021: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

The State Department is required to make the 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. Citizen 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 31st, USCIS provided the required data to VO.

The Department of State has determined the Family and Employment preference numerical limits for FY-2020 in accordance with the terms of Section 201 of the INA. These numerical limitations for FY-2020 are as follows:

Worldwide Family-Sponsored preference limit: 226,000

Worldwide Employment-Based preference limit: 156,253

Under INA Section 202(a), the per-country limit is fixed at 7% of the family and employment annual limits. For FY-2020 the per-country limit is 26,758. The dependent area annual limit is 2%, or 7,645.