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FEBRUARY 1995 STATE DEPARTMENT VISA BULLETIN
IMMIGRANT NUMBERS FOR FEBRUARY 1995
A) STATUTORY NUMBERS (This communication provides priority dates and other transitional information as taken from the State Department's Visa Bulletin released January 12, 1994.)
On the following chart, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed; "C" means current, i.e., numbers are available for all qualified applicants; and "U" means unavailable, i.e., no numbers are available.
Family Preferences:
            All Charge-
            ability Areas     China-                                                                                                                                                                   
            Except Those   mainland     Dominican
            Listed             born          Republic     India           Mexico      Philippines 
 1st        C                   C              C              C               01AUG94   22NOV85
 2A*      22DEC91          22DEC91    22DEC91    22DEC91     01DEC91    22DEC91
 2B        08MAR90          8MAR90    22FEB90     08MAR90    08MAR90    01MAY89
 3rd       15AUG92          5AUG92    15AUG92     15AUG92    15APR87     15SEP83
 4th       22MAR85          22MAR85  22MAR85     22JUL83     15FEB84     03AUG77
 
 *NOTE:  For FEBRUARY, 2A numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 01DEC91.  2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are available to applicants chargeable to all countries EXCEPT MEXICO with priority dates beginning 01DEC91 and earlier than 22DEC91. 
(2A numbers subject to per-country limit are "unavailable" for applicants chargeable to MEXICO.) (The three-year transition program which had provided additional visas for spouses/children of legalization beneficiaries has ended; petitions approved on behalf of such spouses/children continue to accord them status in the Family 2A preference, however.)
 
Employment-Based
             All Charge-
            ability Areas      China-    
            Except Those    mainland   Dominican
            Listed              born         Republic      India          Mexico       Philippines
 1st       C                    C              C              C               C              C
 2nd      C                    C              C              C               C              C
 3rd       C                    08JUL93    C               C               C              01MAR94
Other    01JUL89           01JUL89     01JUL89     01JUL89      01JUL89     01JUL89  
Workers
 4th       C                    C             C              C                C              26JUL93
Certain   C                   C              C              C                C             26JUL93 
Religious Workers
5th        C                   C              C              C                C             C
Targeted C                  C              C              C                C             C  
Employment Areas/Regional Centers
 
The Department of State has available a recorded message with visa availability information which can be heard at:  202-663-1541. This recording will be updated in the middle of each month with information on cut-off dates for the following month.
 
B.  DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT (DV) CATEGORY
Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides 55,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year (beginning with FY-1995) to provide immigration opportunities 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-1995 visa numbers for each region is as follows: Africa, 20,200; Asia, 6,837; Europe, 24,549; North America (Bahamas), 8; South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, 2,589; and Oceania, 817.                                        
 
For February, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries as follows.  Visas are available only for applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers BELOW the specified allocation cut-off number:  
 
                               All DV Charge-
                               ability Areas
                               Except Those
Region                      Listed Separately
AFRICA                     AF 14031            EXCEPT: EGYPT    AF 11676        
                                                                       NIGERIA  AF 13477
ASIA                         AS 06214
EUROPE                     EU 47139                    EXCEPT:  POLAND   EU 07459  
NORTH AMERICA          NA 00010
(BAHAMAS)
OCEANIA                   OC 00976
SOUTH AMERICA,  
CENTRAL AMERICA,
and the CARIBBEAN     SA 02818
 
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 Fiscal (visa) Year 1995 ends as of September 30, 1995, and their lottery registration will confer no benefit after that date.
 
AS WITH EARLIER LOTTERIES, TO PERMIT DV VISAS TO BE ISSUED TO THE LIMITS, SUBSTANTIALLY MORE PERSONS HAVE BEEN REGISTERED THAN THERE ARE VISAS, SINCE MANY APPLICANTS ARE LIABLE NOT TO PURSUE THEIR VISA CASE.  APPLICANTS WHO WANT TO OBTAIN VISAS MUST RESPOND AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE TO THE DV NOTIFICATION LETTER.
 
Should visa demand by applicants with lottery rank numbers lower than a particular cut-off prove insufficient to permit all DV visa numbers to be made available, the cut-off for later months will advance to a higher ranking on the regional or country registration list.  Heavy visa demand from a particular region or country could in principle make necessary the retrogression (backward movement) of a rank number cut-off also.  No applicant should take future DV visa availability for granted.
 
DV VISA NUMBERS COULD BE EXHAUSTED EVEN BEFORE THE END OF THE FISCAL (VISA) YEAR.  APPLICANTS CANNOT ASSUME THAT DV VISAS WILL BE 
AVAILABLE THROUGH SEPTEMBER.  WHENEVER VISA NUMBERS ARE USED TO THEIR LIMIT, NO FURTHER DV VISAS CAN BE ISSUED AT CONSULAR OFFICES 
ABROAD, AND NO FURTHER DV ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS APPLICATIONS CAN BE APPROVED AT INS OFFICES IN THE U.S.  LOTTERY WINNERS WHO WISH TO 
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEIR DV REGISTRATION MUST BE PREPARED TO PURSUE THEIR VISA OR ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS CASE TO PROMPT CONCLUSION.
 
Cut-off date movement in several immigrant categories during the first five months of FY-1995 has been greater than might ordinarily be expected.  This is because fewer applicants are appearing for interview or obtaining visas at consular posts 
abroad as a result of the 1994 amendment to the adjustment of status provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). (Most qualified immigrant visa applicants who are in the United States may now seek adjustment of status through INS even if they are not in lawful nonimmigrant status; previously, most applicants who were not maintaining lawful visa status were prohibited from such adjustment at INS and had to travel abroad to make their formal immigrant visa applications.  Further, the
INA now stipulates that most persons who are NOT in lawful nonimmigrant status at the time of departure from the U.S. cannot be issued immigrant visas at a consular office abroad within 90 days of such departure.  These provisions taken together have resulted in fewer immigrant visa applications at consular offices since October 1994 and more applications filed with INS for adjustment of status.)
 
Although visa number use at consular offices has thus declined, the corresponding increase in INS number use has not yet become apparent, since INS offices will need time to process the adjustment of status applications.  The result has been a temporary decrease in visa number use, which has permitted faster cut-off date movements.
 
Once the cases of the additional adjustment of status applicants begin to be brought to final action in large volume, there will be a significant increase in INS visa number use and cut-off date movements will necessarily slow or stop.  Moreover, in some categories (such as the "Other Worker" category, for instance, where there has been particularly rapid recent cut-off date movement), cut-off date retrogression is a definite possibility.
 
Interested parties should be aware that the recent rate of cut-off date advances will not continue indefinitely, but it is not possible to say at present how soon a significantly increased INS number use will influence the cut-off date determinations.