The
Department of State (DOS) recently released information about how it calculates
visa availability cut-off dates. Separately, the Visa Office has released the
latest November 2013 Visa Bulletin, which explains additional points and notes
forward movement in the China employment-based third preference "Other
Workers" category.
Visa
availability calculations.
DOS explained that each month, its Visa Office subdivides the annual preference
and foreign state limitations into monthly allotments based on totals of
documentarily qualified immigrant visa applicants reported at consular posts
and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices, grouped by foreign state
chargeability, preference category, and priority date. If there are sufficient
numbers in a particular category to satisfy all reported documentarily
qualified demand, the category is considered "Current." For example,
if the monthly allocation target is 3,000 and there is only demand for 1,000
applicants, the category will be Current. Whenever the total of documentarily
qualified applicants in a category exceeds the supply of numbers available for
allotment for the particular month, the category is considered to be
"oversubscribed" and a visa availability cut-off date is established.
The cut-off date is the priority date of the first documentarily qualified
applicant who could not be accommodated for a visa number. For example, if the
monthly target is 3,000 and there is demand for 8,000 applicants, it would be
necessary to establish a cut-off date so that only 3,000 numbers would be
allocated. In this case, the cut-off would be the priority date of the 3,001st
applicant.
The DOS noted
that the FY 2013 employment annual limits were reached before the end of
September, and no further allocation of numbers was possible after that time.
Offices continued to process employment cases, submitted them in the normal
manner, and such cases were then held in the Visa Office's "Pending
Demand" file. All eligible cases were then allocated employment-based
numbers on October 1, 2013, under the FY 2014 annual limits.
DOS said that
the number of 1-485 adjustment of status applications already filed in the
employment third preference (on which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS) has not yet finalized action) for countries other than India and the
Philippines exceed the numbers currently available. These filings are the result
of the cut-off dates for those countries having been advanced by over three
years since April. DOS said that such demand must be considered in the
determination of the monthly cut-off dates to prevent any unnecessary
fluctuation in those dates.
The imposition
of cut-off dates for some categories/countries has limited the number of
applicants who have been able to file for adjustment of status with USCIS, and
such applicants would not be included in the totals, DOS noted. In addition,
new applicants are constantly becoming eligible for processing in categories
for which cut-off dates do not apply, or for a category other than that in
which they initially filed for status. Therefore, DOS said that the totals in
the Visa Bulletin charts should not be interpreted to reflect the total
universe of applicant demand. These totals only represent the amount of demand
taken into consideration during the determination of new dates.
Visa
Bulletin. The Visa
Office noted in its November 2013 Visa Bulletin that:
It
is important to remember that the establishment of a monthly cut-off or
"Current" status for a numerically controlled category (preference or
Diversity [Visa]) applies to those applicants who were reported prior to the
allocation of visa numbers for that month. For example, all qualified
applicants who were reported to the Visa Office in time to be included in the
calculation of the September cut-offs, who had a priority date or rank-order
number before the relevant September cut-off, would have been allotted visa
numbers for September. There would be no expectation, however, that sufficient
numbers would be available for the processing of cases which subsequently
became eligible for final action during that month. Additional numbers may be
allocated outside the regular monthly cycle, but only to the extent that such
numbers remain available under the applicable annual limit. The availability of
additional numbers is subject to change at any time and should never be taken
for granted. This is especially true late in the fiscal year when numerical
allocations are often close to or at the annual limits.
When
applicants fail to appear 9r overcome a refusal (even for reasons beyond their
control) during the original month of scheduled interview, they risk not having
their case processed later in the fiscal year. This is because the
establishment of a monthly cut-off or "Current" status for a
numerically controlled category (preference or Diversity Visa) applies to those
applicants who were reported before the allocation of visa numbers for that
month.
China:
Rapid forward movement of the cut-off date, as a result of there being
insufficient demand to use all available numbers, allowed the category to reach
the Worldwide third preference cut-off date in May 2013. The continued lack of
demand has allowed the "otherwise unused" numbers available under
that limit to be provided for use in the China employment third preference
Other Workers category. The continued addition of those numbers has allowed the
cut-off date for that category to reach the China third preference date for
November. This is the same action which has been possible for the Other Worker
category in other "oversubscribed" countries such as India and
Mexico. A sudden increase in demand for China employment third preference visas
could require corrective action in the China Other Worker cut-off date at any
time.
The DOS's
information includes charts showing the estimated total number of visas
available for each employment preference category and country for fiscal year
2014. Demand data used in the determination of the November 2013 employment
preference cut-off dates are also included in the charts. The information is
available at http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/EmploymentDemandUsedForCutOffDates.pdf.
The latest Visa Bulletin for November 2013 is available at http://travel.state.gov/visa/bulletin/bulletin_6168.html.
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