Priority Dates

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Understand the cut-off date is very important for both Petitioners and Beneficiaries. that may prevent you of gathering false hope on when you would get your green card of your interview at the US consulate in your country. About 800,000 green cards are authorized by laws every year. In the past Immigration office use to over issued the number of green card available but since the 90s, a restructuration is being put in place to coordinate the issuance of all green cards through a single office (The NVC). According to a release from USCIS two weeks ago, The backlog was about 3,800,000 in January 2004 but with the new structuration of the system, it has been reduced to 3.200,000 by June 30, 2004. With tha rate, the Service expecte to bring the load current by the end of January 2006. Immigrant visas are numerically limited by category and by country of chargeability (which is, in most cases one's country of birth). What follows is the visa bulletin showing backlogs in each immigrant visa category for the month of January 2005.

Persons born in countries other than Mexico and the Philippines should look in the "Worldwide" current on the left side of the page to determine their "priority date". A priority date is established by the submission of a relative visa petition in the family categories, and by either the submission of an application for alien labor certification or by the submission of an employment-based visa petition in the employment categories.

The word "Current" indicates that no backlog presently exists in a particular category.

If you are unfamiliar with the Visa Bulletin, click for an explanation of the Family Categories and for an explanation .

The dates in the Visa Bulletin can be misleading. Some dates, particularly in the Employment Based Categories, are "current" now, but may backlog before you can say "I-485". Others, particularly in the Family Based Categories, look closer on the Bulletin than they are in reality. To see the rate of advance in a particular category, check the State Department's Visa Bulletin Archive. This allows you to see Visa Bulletins from February 1995 to the present. (Okay, the government missed a couple of years like 1997 and 1998, but if you are obsessive/compulsive, you can look through our Immigration webpage WWW.USCIS.GOV to look up old Visa Bulletins ;-)

Washington, D.C.

VISA BULLETIN FOR APRIL 2005

IMMIGRANT NUMBERS

A. STATUTORY NUMBERS

1. This bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers during March . 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 February 8th 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".

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

1^st 22FEB01 22FEB01 22FEB01 22OCT94 15NOV90

2A* 15NOV00 15NOV00 15NOV00 15DEC97 15NOV00

2B 15SEP95 15SEP95 15SEP95 15MAR92 15SEP95

3^rd 15JAN98 15JAN98 15JAN98 08APR95 01JUL90

4^th 01MAR93 01MAR93 22JUL92 01MAR93 22OCT82

*NOTE: For March, 2A numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 15DEC97. 2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are available to applicants chargeable to all countries EXCEPT MEXICO with priority dates beginning 15DEC97 and earlier than 15NOV00. (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

1^st C C C C C

2^nd C C C C C

3^rd C 01MAR02 01MAR02 C 01MAR02

Other Workers 01JUL01 01JUL01 01JUL01 01JUL01 01JUL01

4^th C C C C C

Certain Religious Workers C C C C C

5^th C C C C C

Targeted Employment Areas/Regional Centers C C C C C

CH = China (mainland born), IN = India, ME = Mexico, PH = Phillipines

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.