August 2021 Visa Bulletin

This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during August 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 July 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 on 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 September , 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

CURRENT

ASIA

CURRENT

EUROPE

CURRENT

NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS)

CURRENT

OCEANIA

CURRENT

SOUTH AMERICA,

and the CARIBBEAN

CURRENT

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 August.

If there is legislative action extending this category for August, the final action dates would immediately become “Current” for August for all countries except China-mainland born I5 and R5, which would be subject to a November 15, 2015 final action date.

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 119,021 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 ensure that all DV-2022 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2022 (October 1, 2021 until September 30, 2022).

Applicants registered for the DV-2022 program were selected at random from 7,336,302 qualified entries (13,191,296 with derivatives) received during the 35-day application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, October 7, 2020, until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. 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 2022 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2022 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2022 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2022 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2022.

Dates for the DV-2023 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months. Those interested in entering the DV-2023 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. This will result in reduction of the DV-2022 annual limit to approximately 54,850.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign state of chargeability of those registered for the DV-2022 program:

AFRICA

ALGERIA 6,001

ESWATINI 1

MOZAMBIQUE 2

ANGOLA 855

ETHIOPIA 2,988

NAMIBIA 9

BENIN 735

GABON 66

NIGER 49

BOTSWANA 4

GAMBIA, THE 77

RWANDA 983

BURKINA FASO 72

GHANA 3,145

SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 4

BURUNDI 390

GUINEA 672

SENEGAL 277

CABO VERDE 12

GUINEA-BISSAU 15

SEYCHELLES 7

CAMEROON 2,656

KENYA 2,882

SIERRA LEONE 271

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 21

LESOTHO 8

SOMALIA 435

CHAD 231

LIBERIA 1,417

SOUTH AFRICA 497

COMOROS 10

LIBYA 311

SOUTH SUDAN 75

CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE 3,347

MADAGASCAR 19

SUDAN 6,001

CONGO, REPUBLIC OF THE 574

MALAWI 22

TANZANIA 103

COTE D’IVOIRE 597

MALI 74

TOGO 1,119

DJIBOUTI 187

MAURITANIA 158

TUNISIA 203

EGYPT 6,005

MAURITIUS 12

UGANDA 722

EQUATORIAL GUINEA 3

MOROCCO 4,138

ZAMBIA 56

ERITREA 261

Western Sahara 2

ZIMBABWE 222

ASIA

AFGHANISTAN 3,410

JORDAN 917

SAUDI ARABIA 944

BAHRAIN 15

KOREA, NORTH 0

SINGAPORE 19

BHUTAN 114

KUWAIT 222

SRI LANKA 838

BRUNEI 2

LAOS 22

SYRIA 483

BURMA 561

LEBANON 320

TAIWAN 574

CAMBODIA 1,094

MALAYSIA 44

THAILAND 186

INDONESIA 218

MALDIVES 2

TIMOR-LESTE 0

IRAN 5,739

MONGOLIA 293

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 275

IRAQ 1,512

NEPAL 3,802

YEMEN 1,561

ISRAEL 207

OMAN 27

JAPAN 510

QATAR 90

EUROPE

ALBANIA 2,756

GREECE 42

NORTHERN IRELAND 3

ANDORRA 0

HUNGARY 100

NORWAY 10

ARMENIA 2,066

ICELAND 8

POLAND 355

AUSTRIA 36

IRELAND 24

PORTUGAL 20

AZERBAIJAN 919

ITALY 324

Macau 2

BELARUS 1,808

KAZAKHSTAN 1,978

ROMANIA 264

BELGIUM 35

KOSOVO 334

RUSSIA 6,001

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 67

KYRGYZSTAN 1,993

SERBIA 214

BULGARIA 220

LATVIA 43

SLOVAKIA 24

CROATIA 21

LIECHTENSTEIN 0

SLOVENIA 10

CYPRUS 10

LITHUANIA 110

SPAIN 184

CZECH REPUBLIC 27

LUXEMBOURG 3

SWEDEN 32

DENMARK 15

MALTA 0

SWITZERLAND 31

ESTONIA 24

MOLDOOVA 798

TAJIKISTAN 2,122

FINLAND 28

MONACO 0

TURKEY 2,526

FRANCE 205

MONTENEGRO 48

TURKMENISTAN 745

Saint Martin 5

NETHERLANDS 34

UKRAINE 4,949

GEORGIA 1,604

Sint Maarten 2

UZBEKISTAN 6,001

GERMANY 526

NORTH MACEDONIA 293

VATICAN CITY 0

NORTH AMERICA

BAHAMAS, THE 16

OCEANIA

AUSTRALIA 1,031

MARSHALL ISLANDS 2

PALAU 30

Christmas Island 6

MICRONESIA, FEDERATED

STATES OF 4

SAMOA 5

Cocos Keeling Islands 2

NAURU 9

SOLOMON ISLANDS 11

Norfolk Island 6

NEW ZEALAND 248

TONGA 133

FIJI 950

Cook Islands 19

TUVALU 4

KIRIBATI 11

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 26

VANUATU 4

SOUTH AMERICA

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 0

DOMINICA 3

SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 0

ARGENTINA 146

ECUADOR 249

SAINT LUCIA 3

BARBADOS 0

GRENADA 0

SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 0

BELIZE 0

GUYANA 5

SURINAME 4

BOLIVIA 38

NICARAGUA 18

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 26

CHILE 24

PANAMA 4

URUGUAY 0

COSTA RICA 8

PARAGUAY 0

VENEZUELA 1,800

CUBA 975

PERU 198

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2022: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.