IMMIGRANT NUMBERS FOR DECEMBER 2005

A. STATUTORY NUMBERS

1.  This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during December. Consular officers are required to report to the Department of State documentarily qualified applicants for numerically limited visas; the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security reports applicants for adjustment of status.  Allocations were made, to the extent possible under the numerical limitations, for the demand received by November 9th in the chronological order of the reported priority dates. If the demand could not be satisfied within the statutory or regulatory limits, 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.  Immediately that 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.

2.  Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) sets an annual minimum family-sponsored preference limit of 226,000.  The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 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.  The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,320.

3.  Section 203 of the INA prescribes preference classes for allotment of immigrant visas as follows:

FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES

First:  Unmarried Sons and Daughters of 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, and any unused first preference numbers:

A.  Spouses and Children:  77% of the overall second preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit;

B.  Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older):  23% of the overall second preference limitation.

Third:  Married Sons and Daughters of Citizens:  23,400, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences.

Fourth:  Brothers and Sisters of Adult Citizens:  65,000, plus any numbers not required by first three preferences

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". 

Schedule A Workers: Employment First, Second, and Third preference Schedule A applicants are entitled to up to 50,000 “recaptured” numbers.

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 P.L. 102-395.

4.  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 .

5.  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.)

 

	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA -mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIP-PINES
Family
1st	22 APR 01	22 APR 01	22 APR 01	01JUN94	22AUG91
2A*	01JAN02	01JAN02	01JAN02	15DEC98	01JAN02
2B	08JUN96	08JUN96	08JUN96	01FEB92	08JUN96
3rd	08JUN98	08JUN98	08JUN98	01SEP94	08FEB91
4th	01 MAY 94	01 MAY 94	15NOV93	01 APR 92	01SEP83

*NOTE:  For December, 2A numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 15DEC98.  2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are available to applicants chargeable to all countries EXCEPT  MEXICO with priority dates beginning 15DEC98 and earlier than 01JAN02.  (All 2A numbers provided for MEXICO are exempt from the per-country limit; there are no 2A numbers for MEXICO subject to per-country limit.)

 

	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CH	IN	ME	PH
Employment-Based
1st	C	01JUL01	01FEB03	C	C
2nd	C	01FEB01	01JUL00	C	C
3rd	15 MAR 01	01JAN01	01JAN99	01FEB01	15 MAR 01
Schedule A Workers	C	C	C	C	C
Other Workers	01OCT00	01OCT00	01OCT00	01OCT00	01OCT00
4th	C	C	C	C	C
Certain Religious Workers	C	C	C	C	C
5th	C	C	C	C	C
Targeted Employment Areas/Regional Centers	C	C	C	C	C

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 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 a maximum of up to 55,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year to permit immigration opportunities for persons from countries other than the principal sources of current immigration to the United States .  The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 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 reduction has resulted in the DV-2006 annual limit being reduced 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 December, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2006 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	AF	7,500	Except: Ethiopia 6,800
Nigeria 5,400
ASIA	AS	2,500	Except: Bangladesh 2,300
EUROPE	EU	5,500
NORTH AMERICA ( BAHAMAS )	NA	5
OCEANIA	OC	270
SOUTH AMERICA , and the CARIBBEAN	SA	400

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-2006 program ends as of September 30, 2006 .  DV visas may not be issued to DV-2006 applicants after that date.  Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2006 principals are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2006 .  DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2006 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 JANUARY
 
For January, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2006 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 Region Listed Separately
AFRICA	AF	9,000	Nigeria 6,400
ASIA	AS	3,100	Except: Bangladesh 3,025
EUROPE	EU	6,800
NORTH AMERICA ( BAHAMAS )	NA	6
OCEANIA	OC	330
SOUTH AMERICA , and the CARIBBEAN	SA	550

D. EMPLOYMENT PREFERENCE VISA AVAILABILTIY

Many of the Employment preference cut-off dates have advanced for the month of December.  This is being done based on the amount of demand currently being received from Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) for adjustment of status cases, and consideration for CIS’s processing procedures and staffing patterns.  Applicant demand for numbers may be expected to increase following rapid advances in the cut-off dates.  This could cause cut-off date movement to be sporadic, and eventually slow or stop later in the fiscal year.  At this time, it is not possible to predict the rate of movement in future months. 

E. OBTAINING THE MONTHLY VISA BULLETIN

The Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs offers the monthly "Visa Bulletin" on the INTERNET'S WORLDWIDE WEB .  The INTERNET Web address to access the Bulletin is: http://travel.state.gov

From the home page, select the VISA section which contains the Visa Bulletin.

To be placed on the Department of State’s E-mail subscription list for the “Visa Bulletin”, please send an E-mail to the following E-mail address:

listserv@calist.state.gov

and in the message body type:

Subscribe Visa-Bulletin First name/Last name
(example:  Subscribe Visa-Bulletin  Sally Doe)

To be removed from the Department of State’s E-mail subscription list for the  “Visa Bulletin”, send an e-mail message to the following E-mail address:

listserv@calist.state.gov

and in the message body type: Signoff Visa-Bulletin

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

Readers may submit questions regarding Visa Bulletin related items by E-mail at the following address:

VISABULLETIN@STATE. GOV

(This address cannot be used to subscribe to the Visa Bulletin.) 

Department of State Publication 9514
CA/VO: November 9, 2005