Welcome to our Easy-To-Read Visa Bulletin

This Visa Bulletin has been edited and annotated to make it easier to read, less technical, and (we hope) more useful to you.

A. NUMBER OF IMMIGRANT VISAS AVAILABLE

2. The fiscal year limit for family-sponsored preference immigrants for a country is 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 28,016 for the Fiscal Year. The yearly limit for a dependent area (e.g. Bermuda) is set at 2%, or 8,004.

3. FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES

2nd: Spouses and Children(who are under 21 and unmarried) are in 2A, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters (who are over 21) of Permanent Residents are in 2B.

2A: The 2 "A" preference is for Spouses and Children of LPR's.

2B: The 2 "B" Preference is for Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older) of LPR's.

3rd: Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens.

4th: Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens.

4. Family-sponsored and employment based preference visas are issued to eligible immigrants in the order in which petitions are filed. 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. (This means that family members can be given immigrant visas also if they travel with or follow to join the person with the approved petition without filing individual petitions themselves. This rule does NOT apply to Immediate Relatives of U.S. citizens each of whom needs an individual petition.

5. On the charts below, the listing of a date for any class indicates that there is a wait for visas; "C" means current, i.e., visas are available for all qualified applicants; and "U" means Unavailable, i.e., no visas are available at this time. (NOTE: Visas are available only for applicants whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed here.)

 

FAMILY BASED

	ALL AREAS EXCEPT	CHINA	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
PREF	THOSE LISTED	Mainland Born	-	-	-
1st	15 DEC 98	15 DEC 98	15 DEC 98	22 JAN 94	08 APR 88
2A	15 MAR 96	15 MAR 96	15 MAR 96	01 JUL 94	15 MAR 96
2B	15 FEB 93	15 FEB 93	15 FEB 93	15 SEP 91	15 FEB 93
3rd	01 JAN 96	01 JAN 96	01 JAN 96	01 JAN 93	15 NOV 87
4th	01 MAR 89	01 MAR 89	15 SEP 87	01 MAR 89	01 AUG 79

6. EMPLOYMENT-SPONSORED PREFERENCES

1st: Priority Workers.

2nd: Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability.

3rd: Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers (Other Workers include those in sponsored jobs which require less than two years of training or experience.)

4th: "Special Immigrants"

5th: Employment Creation (Investors)

 

EMPLOYMENT BASED

	ALL AREAS EXCEPT	CHINA	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
PREF	THOSE LISTED	Mainland Born	-	-	-
1st	C	C	C	C	C
2nd	C	01 JAN 98	01 AUG 99	C	C
3rd	C	15 FEB 97	01 FEB 97	C	C
Other Workers	01 JAN 95	01 JAN 95	01 JAN 95	01 JAN 95	01 JAN 95
4th	C	C	C	C	C
5th	C	C	C	C	C

B. DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT (DV) CATEGORY

Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides 55,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year for persons from countries other than the principal sources of current immigration to the United States. DV visas are divided among six geographic regions. Not more than 3,850 visas (7% of the 55,000 visa limit) may be provided to immigrants from any one country.

The allotment of FY-2000 visa numbers for each region is approximately as follows: Africa, 20,426; Asia, 7,087; Europe, 24,257; North America (Bahamas): 8, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean: 2,407; and Oceania, 815.

For JUL 2000, DV visas are available to all qualified applicants on a "Current" basis except for AFRICA available below 26,600 except GHANA below 10,720 and NIGERIA below 12,955; ASIA below 9,000; EUROPE below 21,000, EXCEPT ALBANIA below 12,815; NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) below 54; OCEANIA below 825; SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA and the CARIBBEAN below 1,800.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR DV CASES: Entitlement to immigrant status in the DV category lasts only through the end of the fiscal year for which the applicant is selected in the lottery. The year of entitlement for all applicants registered for Fiscal Year 2000 ends on September 30, 2000. A DV2000 lottery registration will give no benefit after that date. A FY-2000 Diversity Visa case must be completed by 30 September 2000.

(Editor's Note, not part of the official Visa Bulletin.) ADVANCE DV AVAILABILITY: if an advance cut-off date published in the VISA BULLETIN is below the rank number of a selected DV applicant, the applicant can file a DV visa application with a consul or can submit an Adjustment of Status application (if in the US and if qualified to adjust) up to 3 months before the published date. As an example, if a selected DV applicant has a DV rank number of Europe 14,499 and the Visa Bulletin shows that the Cut-Off for Europe will be 14,500 in April, the applicant can apply beginning 01 January (which is three months before April). This is to allow more time for processing of the DV application.

Caution: Since it can take several months to process an application for a DV visa, if a qualified applicant has not submitted the application papers several months before September 30, there is a strong possiblity that processing will not be completed by the last day of the Fiscal Year. The time needed for processing depnds on where the visa application is submitted.

The following Advance Dates are taken from the official Visa Bulletin.

ADVANCE NOTICE OF DV VISA AVAILABILITY

For AUG 2000, DV visas will be available to ALL qualified applicants on a "Current" basis except AFRICA available below 28,850 except NIGERIA below 13,675; ASIA Current; EUROPE below 21,000, EXCEPT ALBANIA below 14,650; NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) below 54; OCEANIA below 825; SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA and the CARIBBEAN below 1,915.

For SEP 2000, DV visas will be available to ALL qualified applicants on a "Current" basis except AFRICA Current except NIGERIA below 13,676; ASIA Current; EUROPE below 21,030, EXCEPT ALBANIA below 14,669; NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) Current; SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA and the CARIBBEAN below 2,011.

The Department of State has available a recorded message with visa availability information which can be heard at: area code (202) 663-1541. This recording is chasnged in the middle of each month with information on cut-off dates for the following month.

OBTAINING THE MONTHLY VISA BULLETIN: The Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs offers the monthly "Visa Bulletin" on the INTERNET. The INTERNET address of the Bulletin is http://travel.state.gov/visa_bulletin.html.

Individuals may also obtain the "Visa Bulletin" by FAX. From a FAX phone, dial (202) 647-3000. Follow the prompts and enter in the code 1038 to have the Bulletin FAXed to you.

To be placed on the Department of State's E-mail subscription list, send your e-mail address to: viasbulletin@state.gov

The above dates and numbers are from the Department of State Publication 9514CA/VO released 09 JUN 2000.

The original unedited Visa Bulletin is available at Official Visa Bulletin Use your browser "Back" button to return here.