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STATE DEPARTMENT CHANGES DV-1 CUTOFF NUMBERS
On Friday, the 17th of February, 1995, the Department of State announced that it was abandoning the cutoff numberdate system governing the distribution of visas under the DV-1 immigrant visa program for the month of February. Effective immediately upon release of the State Department memorandum, visa numbers for the DV Visa category became current for all regions and countries for February. On Friday, the 24th of February, the State Department announced that it was reinstituting some cutoff numbers for March.
For February, INS offices are permitted to request DV visa numbers for all I-485 adjustment of status applicants including cases previously deferred because the case number was higher than earlier published cuttoff limits. However, many adjustment of status applicants have reported that their local INS offices were unaware of the change. Unfortunately, the memorandum has not been publicly released yet and only a few INS offices have begun requesting visas for deferred cases. If a local INS office is not aware of the change, the DV visa applicant should inform their local INS office that they can contact Seton Stapleton at the Department of State to confirm the fact.
In March, the following cutoff numbers apply:
               	All DV Chargeability
               	Areas Except Those
Region         	Listed Separately



AFRICA         	AF 29,250	EXCEPT:   EGYPT AF 18,070

ASIA            	AS 04,832      	EXCEPT:   BANGLADESH AS 04,388

EUROPE        	Current          	EXCEPT:   POLAND EU 15,415

NORTH AMERICA  	NA 00,010

(BAHAMAS)

OCEANIA        	Current

SOUTH AMERICA  	Current
CENTRAL AMERICA,
and the CARIBBEAN