United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs

VISA BULLETIN

Number 32
Volume VIII
Washington, D.C.

IMMIGRANT NUMBERS FOR JUNE 2001

A. STATUTORY NUMBERS

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.)

*NOTE: For May, 2A numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 22OCT94. 2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are available to applicants chargeable to all countries EXCEPT MEXICO with priority dates beginning 22OCT94 and earlier than 22SEP96. (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.)

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 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 (NCARA) 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 NCARA program. This reduction has resulted in the DV-2001 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 June, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2001 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:

All DV Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed Separately

Region

AFRICA: AF 19,930, Except: Ethiopia AF16,800
ASIA: AS 10,520
EUROPE: EU 20,000, Except: Albania EU 12,275
NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS): NA 15
OCEANIA: OC 845
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN: SA 1,600

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-2001 program ends as of September 30, 2001. DV visas may not be issued to DV-2001 applicants after that date. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2001 principals are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2001. DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2001 cannot be taken for granted. Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30. Once all numbers provided by law for the DV-2001 program have been used, no further issuances will be possible.

C. ADVANCE NOTIFICATION OF THE DIVERSITY (DV) IMMIGRANT CATEGORY RANK CUT-OFFS WHICH WILL APPLY IN JULY

For July, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2001 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:

All DV Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed Separately

Region

AFRICA: AF 24,700, Except: Ethiopia AF 19,700
ASIA: AS 12,000
EUROPE: EU 24,000, Except: Albania EU 13,000
NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS): NA 15
OCEANIA: OC 900
SOUTH AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN: SA 1,740

D. REDUCTION OF THE EMPLOYMENT THIRD PREFERENCE OTHER WORKER CATEGORY ANNUAL NUMERICAL LIMIT

The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NCARA), passed by Congress in November 1997, contains a provision which provides for a temporary reduction in the annual numerical limit for the Employment Third Preference Other Worker (EW) category. The provision states that once the EW cut-off date has reached the priority date of the latest EW petition approved prior to November 19, 1997, the annual limit is to be reduced by 5,000 beginning the following fiscal year. Since the EW cut-off date for the month of June is 01MAY99, the EW limit will be reduced from 10,000 to 5,000 beginning in FY-2002. This reduction is to be made to offset numbers made available for use under the NCARA program.

E. FAMILY-SPONSORED VISA AVAILABILITY FOR THE REMAINDER OF FY-2001

As the September 30 end of FY-2001 approaches, the chance of visa cut-off date retrogression increases as number use comes close to the annual limits set by law. Allocations in many of the Family-sponsored preference categories are rapidly approaching their FY-2001 limits. Continued heavy applicant demand (particularly for adjustment of status cases at INS offices) may require the retrogression of one or more cut-off dates in July or August to keep number use within the annual limits.

F. DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY 2002 (DV-2002) RESULTS

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2002 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 90,000 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV- 2002 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2002 (October 1, 2001 until September 30, 2002).

Applicants registered for the DV-2002 program were selected at random from the approximately 10 million qualified entries received during the one-month application period that ran from Noon on October 2, 2000 through Noon on November 1, 2000. An additional 3 million applications received inside and outside of the mail-in period were disqualified for failing to properly follow directions. The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years. Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested.

Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the Immigration and Naturalization Service for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2002 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2002 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2002 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2002 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2002.

Only participants in the DV-2002 program who were selected for further processing have been notified. Those who have not received notification were not selected. They may try for the upcoming DV-2003 lottery if they wish. The dates for the mail-in period for the DV-2003 lottery are scheduled from October 1, 2001 until October 31, 2001. Instructions on entering the DV-2003 program will be widely publicized in late July or August 2001.

* The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NCARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NCARA program. The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV-2000.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2002 program:

AFRICA

ALGERIA 1,163
ANGOLA 15
BENIN 70
BOTSWANA 12
BURKINA FASO 14
BURUNDI 0
CAMEROON 775
CAPE VERDE 12
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 2
CHAD 19
COMOROS 0
CONGO 76
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF THE 405
COTE D'IVOIRE 163
DJIBOUTI 10
EGYPT 2,046
EQUATORIAL GUINEA 0
ERITREA 246
ETHIOPIA 4,997
GABON 18
GAMBIA, THE 63
GHANA 6,531
GUINEA 274
GUINEA-BISSAU 2
KENYA 2,408
LESOTHO 0
LIBERIA 1,117
LIBYA 26
MADAGASCAR 3
MALAWI 27
MALI 43
MAURITANIA 43
MAURITIUS 15
MOROCCO 2,056
MOZAMBIQUE 8
NAMIBIA 3
NIGER 45
NIGERIA 6,049
RWANDA 22
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0
SENEGAL 379
SEYCHELLES 2
SIERRA LEONE 5,767
SOMALIA 1,328
SOUTH AFRICA 452
SUDAN 1,820
SWAZILAND 5
TANZANIA 269
TOGO 786
TUNISIA 151
UGANDA 192
ZAMBIA 91
ZIMBABWE 121

ASIA

AFGHANISTAN 208
BAHRAIN 3
BANGLADESH 5,497
BHUTAN 4
BRUNEI 0
BURMA 930
CAMBODIA 267
HONG KONG SPECIAL
ADMIN. REGION 205
INDONESIA 537
IRAN 1,703
IRAQ 117
ISRAEL 199
JAPAN 637
JORDAN 123
KUWAIT 39
LAOS 6
LEBANON 118
MALAYSIA 131
MALDIVES 0
MONGOLIA 69
NEPAL 729
NORTH KOREA 0
OMAN 6
QATAR 4
SAUDI ARABIA 50
SINGAPORE 62
SRI LANKA 757
SYRIA 67
THAILAND 363
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 22
YEMEN 223

EUROPE

ALBANIA 2,331
ANDORRA 0
ARMENIA 843
AUSTRIA 56
AZERBAIJAN 267
BELARUS 775
BELGIUM 30
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 49
BULGARIA 2,489
CROATIA 43
CYPRUS 16
CZECH REPUBLIC 116
DENMARK 26
ESTONIA 61
FINLAND 19
FRANCE 207
Guadeloupe 1
GEORGIA 273
GERMANY 1,090
GREECE 44
HUNGARY 101
ICELAND 9
IRELAND 135
ITALY 95
KAZAKHSTAN 656
KYRGYZSTAN 133
LATVIA 156
LIECHTENSTEIN 0
LITHUANIA 1,483
LUXEMBOURG 2
MACEDONIA, FORMER
YUGOSLAV REP. OF 157
MALTA 2
MOLDOVA 461
MONACO 0
NETHERLANDS 52
Netherlands Antilles 5
NORTHERN IRELAND 11
NORWAY 11
POLAND 4,707
PORTUGAL 17
ROMANIA 1,357
RUSSIA 2,754
SAN MARINO 0
SLOVAKIA 275
SLOVENIA 5
SPAIN 38
SWEDEN 54
SWITZERLAND 105
TAJIKISTAN 107
TURKEY 1,153
TURKMENISTAN 43
UKRAINE 5,511
UZBEKISTAN 1,497
VATICAN CITY 0
YUGOSLAVIA 175

NORTH AMERICA

BAHAMAS, THE 15

OCEANIA

AUSTRALIA 220
FIJI 820
KIRIBATI 0
MARSHALL ISLANDS 0
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED
STATES OF 0
NAURU 0
NEW ZEALAND 138
Cook Islands 3
PALAU 0
PAPUA NEW GUINEA 4
SAMOA 1
SOLOMON ISLANDS 0
TONGA 37
TUVALU 0
VANUATU 0

SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 2
ARGENTINA 198
BARBADOS 2
BELIZE 0
BOLIVIA 79
BRAZIL 237
CHILE 41
COSTA RICA 8
CUBA 757
DOMINICA 6
ECUADOR 432
GRENADA 4
GUATEMALA 20
GUYANA 32
HONDURAS 12
NICARAGUA 6
PANAMA 6
PARAGUAY 1
PERU 1,181
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 2
SAINT LUCIA 3
SAINT VINCENT AND
THE GRENADINES 2
SURINAME 2
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 69
URUGUAY 17
VENEZUELA 153

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2002: Canada, China (mainland-born, and Macau, except Hong Kong S.A.R.), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

Department of State Publication 9514
CA/VO:May 8, 2001