November 2021 Visa Bulletin

From the bulletin:

This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during November 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 October 8th . 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. 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.

In plain words: “Unavailable” (“U”) means paused; “retrogress” means move back; “chargeability area” means country of birth; “final action date” means approval date; “date for filing” means filing date.

From the bulletin:

For December , immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2022 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

7,000

Except: Egypt 4,700

ASIA

4,000

Except: Iran 2,150

Nepal 2,200

EUROPE

7,300

NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS)

5

OCEANIA

450

SOUTH AMERICA,

and the CARIBBEAN

625

In plain words: “chargeability area” means country of birth.

From the bulletin:

Division O, Title 1, Section 104 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 extended the immigrant investor pilot program until June 30, 2021. No I5 or R5 visas may be issued overseas, or final action taken on adjustment of status cases after June 30, 2021.

The final action dates for the I5 and R5 categories have been listed as “Unavailable” for November.

If there is legislative action extending this category for November, the final action dates would immediately become “Current” for November for all countries except China-mainland born I5 and R5, which would be subject to a November 22, 2015 final action date.

In plain words: “Current” (“C”) means open to everyone; “Unavailable” (“U”) means paused; “final action date” means approval date.

From the bulletin:

It has been necessary to retrogress both the China-mainland born and India Employment Third preference final action dates. This is a direct result of extraordinarily heavy applicant demand for numbers, primarily by Citizenship and Immigration Services offices for adjustment of status cases.

In plain words: “retrogress” means move back; “final action date” means approval date.

From the bulletin:

The Visa Office (VO) subdivides the annual preference and foreign state limitations specified in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) into twelve monthly allotments. The totals of documentarily complete applicants that have been reported to VO are compared each month with the numbers available for the next regular allotment and numbers are allocated to reported applicants in order of their priority dates (the oldest dates first).

- If there are enough visa numbers available in a particular category to satisfy all reported documentarily complete demand, the category is considered “Current.” For example, if the Employment First preference monthly target is 5,000 and there are only 3,000 applicants, the category is considered “Current.”

- Whenever the total number of documentarily complete applicants in a category exceeds the supply of numbers available for allotment for the upcoming month, the category is considered “oversubscribed”, and a visa availability final action date is established. The final action date is the priority date of the first documentarily complete applicant who could not be accommodated for the use of a visa number. For example, if the Employment First preference monthly target is 5,000 and there are 8,000 applicants, a final action date would be established so that only 5,000 numbers would be used, and the final action date would be the priority date of the 5,001st applicant.

Applicants entitled to immigrant status become documentarily complete at their own initiative and convenience and upon the completion of various processing requirements. Therefore, it is extremely important to remember that 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 based on the total applicants reported documentarily complete each month and in consideration of other variables. Demand for visa numbers can fluctuate from one month to another with an inevitable impact on final action dates, an important fact to remember as processing continues to return to normal pre-COVID levels.

Annual Family-sponsored and Employment-based limit: Section 201 of the INA sets an annual minimum Family-sponsored preference limit of 226,000, while the worldwide annual level for Employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000. Unused numbers from the previous year’s annual limits are considered in the calculation of these annual limits.

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 per-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.

Applicability of Section 202(a)(5): INA Section 202(a)(5), added by the American Competitiveness Act in the 21st Century, removed the per-country limit on Employment-based immigrants in any calendar quarter in which applicant demand for numbers in one or more Employment-based preferences is less than the total of such numbers available. In recent years, the application of Section 202(a)(5) has allowed countries such as China – mainland born and India to utilize large amounts of Employment-based preference numbers, which otherwise would have gone unused. Such numbers are provided strictly in priority date order without regard to the foreign state chargeability, and the same final action date applies to any country benefiting from this provision.

Applicability of Section 202(e): When visa demand by documentarily complete applicants from a particular country exceeds the amount of numbers available under the annual numerical limitation, that country is considered to be oversubscribed. Oversubscription may require the establishment of an earlier final action date 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.)

G. @TRAVELGOV HOSTING MONTHLY YOUTUBE LIVE “CHATS WITH CHARLIE”

@TravelGov will be hosting "Chats with Charlie" on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/TravelGov ) to discuss information provided in the monthly Visa Bulletin with our expert Charlie Oppenheim. This month’s chat is scheduled to take place on October 26, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. EST to discuss the November Visa Bulletin. Questions can be emailed to [email protected] ahead of the event with "Chat with Charlie Question" in the subject line. Questions will also be taken via the YouTube Live Chat and will be answered in real-time. The event is intended to address issues of general interest related to the content of the Visa Bulletin, and no policy, case or post specific questions will be accepted. This will be Charlie’s last chat before his retirement, but @TravelGov will continue to host chats on consular related issues.

In plain words: “Current” (“C”) means open to everyone; “final action date” means approval date.