USA Visas

1.  This bulletin
summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during
September. Consular officers are required to report to the
Department of State documentarily qualified applicants for numerically limited
visas; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland
Security reports applicants for adjustment of status.  Allocations were made, to
the extent possible, in chronological order of reported priority dates, for
demand received by August 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.  Only applicants who have a priority date earlier
than the cut-off date may be allotted a number.  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.
2. The fiscal year 2011 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 2011
limit for employment-based preference immigrants calculated under INA 201 is
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 for FY-2011.  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, 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.
On the chart below, the
listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed (see
paragraph 1); “C” means current, i.e., numbers are available for all qualified
applicants; and “U” means unavailable, i.e., no numbers are available.  (NOTE:
Numbers are available only for applicants whose priority date is
earlier than the cut-off date listed below.)

Family- Sponsored	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
F1	01MAY04	01MAY04	01MAY04	15MAR93	01NOV96
F2A	01DEC08	01DEC08	01DEC08	22SEP08	01DEC08
F2B	01JUL03	01JUL03	01JUL03	01NOV92	22MAR01
F3	22AUG01	22AUG01	22AUG01	22NOV92	15MAY92
F4	15APR00	15APR00	15APR00	22MAR96	08JUL88

*NOTE:  For September, F2A
numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to
applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than
22SEP08.  F2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are
available to applicants chargeable to all countries
EXCEPT MEXICO with priority dates beginning 22SEP08 and earlier
than 01DEC08.  (All F2A numbers provided for MEXICO are exempt from the
per-country limit; there are no F2A numbers for MEXICO subject to per-country
limit.)
5.  Section 203(b) of the INA prescribes
preference classes for allotment of Employment-based immigrant visas as
follows:
EMPLOYMENT-BASED
PREFERENCES
First:
Priority Workers:  28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level,
plus any numbers not required for fourth and fifth preferences.
Second:
Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional
Ability:  28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any
numbers not required by first preference.
Third:
Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers:  28.6% of the worldwide
level, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences, not more
than 10,000 of which to “*Other Workers”.
Fourth:
Certain Special Immigrants:  7.1% of the worldwide level.
Fifth:
Employment Creation:  7.1% of the worldwide level, not less than 3,000 of which
reserved for investors in a targeted rural or high-unemployment area, and 3,000
set aside for investors in regional centers by Sec. 610 of Pub. L. 102-395.
On the chart below, the
listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed (see
paragraph 1); “C” means current, i.e., numbers are available for all qualified
applicants; and “U” means unavailable, i.e., no numbers are available.  (NOTE:
Numbers are available only for applicants whose priority date is
earlier than the cut-off date listed below.)

Employment- Based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	C	C	C	C
2nd	C	15APR07	15APR07	C	C
3rd	22NOV05	15JUL04	08JUL02	22NOV05	22NOV05
Other Workers	01AUG05	22APR03	01JUN02	01AUG05	01AUG05
4th	C	C	C	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
5th Targeted Employment Areas/ Regional Centers and Pilot Programs	C	C	C	C	C

*Employment Third Preference Other
Workers Category:  Section 203(e) of the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief
Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997, as amended by Section 1(e) of
Pub. L. 105-139, provides that once the Employment Third Preference Other Worker
(EW) cut-off date has reached the priority date of the latest EW petition
approved prior to November 19, 1997, the 10,000 EW numbers available for a
fiscal year are to be reduced by up to 5,000 annually beginning in the following
fiscal year.  This reduction is to be made for as long as necessary to offset
adjustments under the NACARA program.  Since the EW cut-off date reached
November 19, 1997 during Fiscal Year 2001, the reduction in the EW annual limit
to 5,000 began in Fiscal Year 2002.
6.  The Department of State has a
recorded message with visa availability information which can be heard at:
(202) 663-1541.  This recording is updated on or about the tenth of each month
with information on cut-off dates for the following month.
B.
DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT (DV) CATEGORY
Section 203(c) of the INA
provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year to permit additional
immigration opportunities for persons from countries with low admissions during
the previous five years.  The NACARA stipulates that beginning with DV-99, and
for as long as necessary, up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity
visas will be made available for use under the NACARA program.  This
resulted in reduction of the DV-2011 annual limit to 50,000.  DV visas
are divided among six geographic regions.  No one country can receive more than
seven percent of the available diversity visas in any one year.
For
September, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available
to qualified DV-2011 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	Except: Ethiopia 32,700
ASIA	CURRENT
EUROPE	CURRENT	Except: Uzbekistan  UNAVAILABLE
NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS)	CURRENT
OCEANIA	CURRENT
SOUTH AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN	CURRENT

Entitlement to immigrant status in the DV
category lasts only through the end of the fiscal (visa) year for which the
applicant is selected in the lottery.  The year of entitlement for all
applicants registered for the DV-2011 program ends as of September 30, 2011.  DV
visas may not be issued to DV-2011 applicants after that date.  Similarly,
spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2011 principals are
only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2011.  DV visa
availability through the very end of FY-2011 cannot be taken for granted.
Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30.
C. ADVANCE
NOTIFICATION OF THE DIVERSITY (DV) IMMIGRANT CATEGORY RANK CUT-OFFS WHICH WILL
APPLY IN OCTOBER
For
October, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to
qualified DV-2012 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	8,500	Except: Egypt 5,000 Ethiopia 7,000 Nigeria 7,000
ASIA	8,000
EUROPE	8,500
NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS)	3
OCEANIA	300
SOUTH AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN	400

D. DIVERSITY VISA
LOTTERY 2012 (DV-2012) RESULTS
The Kentucky Consular Center in
Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2012
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 100,021 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 *50,000 persons
registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure
should insure that all DV-2012 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2012
(October 1, 2011 until September 30, 2012).
Applicants registered for the DV-2012
program were selected at random from 14,768,658 qualified entries (19,672,268
with derivatives) received during the 30-day application period that ran from
noon on October 5, 2010, until noon, November 3, 2010.  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 *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for
fiscal year 2012 will end.  Selected applicants who do not receive visas by
September 30, 2012 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2012
registration.  Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join
DV-2012 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa
status until September 30, 2012.
Only participants in the DV-2012 program
who were selected for further processing have been notified.  Those who have not
received notification were not selected.  They may try for the upcoming DV-2013
lottery if they wish.  The dates for the registration period for the DV-2013
lottery program are expected to be widely publicized at some point during 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-2012
program:

AFRICA
ALGERIA 1,799 ANGOLA 42 BENIN 511 BOTSWANA 7 BURKINA FASO 226 BURUNDI 56 CAMEROON 3,374 CAPE VERDE 9 CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 3 CHAD 33 COMOROS 9 CONGO 105 CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE 3,445 COTE D’IVOIRE 553 DJIBOUTI 38 EGYPT 4,664 EQUATORIAL GUINEA 4 ERITREA 670	ETHIOPIA 4,902 GABON 48 GAMBIA, THE 113 GHANA 5,832 GUINEA 899 GUINEA-BISSAU 3 KENYA 4,720 LESOTHO 8 LIBERIA 2,101 LIBYA 136 MADAGASCAR 17 MALAWI 16 MALI 76 MAURITANIA 29 MAURITIUS 59 MOROCCO 1,890 MOZAMBIQUE 13 NAMIBIA 10 NIGER 32	NIGERIA 6,024 RWANDA 333 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0 SENEGAL 270 SEYCHELLES 6 SIERRA LEONE 3,397 SOMALIA 175 SOUTH AFRICA 833 SUDAN 757 SWAZILAND 0 TANZANIA 175 TOGO 845 TUNISIA 113 UGANDA 418 ZAMBIA 79 ZIMBABWE 123
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN 109 BAHRAIN 29 BANGLADESH 2,373 BHUTAN 5 BRUNEI 0 BURMA 370 CAMBODIA 596 HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMIN. REGION 54 INDONESIA 256 IRAN 4,453	IRAQ 153 ISRAEL 175 JAPAN 435 JORDAN 152 NORTH KOREA 0 KUWAIT 108 LAOS 1 LEBANON 274 MALAYSIA 118 MALDIVES 0 MONGOLIA 209	NEPAL 3,258 OMAN 11 QATAR 19 SAUDI ARABIA 217 SINGAPORE 45 SRI LANKA 708 SYRIA 160 TAIWAN 391 THAILAND 73 TIMOR-LESTE 9 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 92 YEMEN 149
EUROPE
ALBANIA 1,508 ANDORRA 1 ARMENIA 998 AUSTRIA 130 AZERBAIJAN 304 BELARUS 493 BELGIUM 105 BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 83 BULGARIA 883 CROATIA 107 CYPRUS 26 CZECH REPUBLIC 104 DENMARK 73 ESTONIA 49 FINLAND 91 FRANCE 574 French Polynesia 7 New Caledonia 1 GEORGIA 620 GERMANY 1,709 GREECE 105	HUNGARY 325 ICELAND 56 IRELAND 213 ITALY 529 KAZAKHSTAN 434 KOSOVO 137 KYRGYZSTAN 321 LATVIA 83 LIECHTENSTEIN 0 LITHUANIA 258 LUXEMBOURG 8 MACEDONIA 160 MALTA 20 MOLDOVA 1,238 MONACO 3 MONTENEGRO 18 NETHERLANDS 149 Aruba 4 Curacao 19 St. Maarten 2 NORTHERN IRELAND 59	NORWAY 84 PORTUGAL 66 Macau 19 ROMANIA 1,327 RUSSIA 2,353 SAN MARINO 1 SERBIA 298 SLOVAKIA 80 SLOVENIA 16 SPAIN 232 SWEDEN 200 SWITZERLAND 229 TAJIKISTAN 270 TURKEY 3,077 TURKMENISTAN 143 UKRAINE 5,799 UZBEKISTAN 4,800 VATICAN CITY 0
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE 15
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA 900 Christmas Islands 3 Cocos Islands 1 FIJI 628 KIRIBATI 14 MARSHALL ISLANDS 4 MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF 2	NAURU 5 NEW ZEALAND 309 Cook Islands 6 Niue 14 PALAU 5 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 0 SAMOA 0 SOLOMON ISLANDS 0	TONGA 93 TUVALU 0 VANUATU 8 WESTERN SAMOA 9
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 9 ARGENTINA 101 BARBADOS 25 BELIZE 9 BOLIVIA 84 CHILE 43 COSTA RICA 43 CUBA 292	DOMINICA 18 GRENADA 24 GUYANA 26 HONDURAS 80 NICARAGUA 49 PANAMA 21 PARAGUAY 17 SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 7	SAINT LUCIA 4 SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 16 SURINAME 15 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 175 URUGUAY 19 VENEZUELA 925

Natives of the following countries were
not eligible to participate in DV-2012: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born,
excluding Hong Kong S.A.R. and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the
Philippines, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and
its dependent territories, and Vietnam.