Visa Bulletin For August 2019

*Employment Third Preference Other Workers Category: Section 203(e) of the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997, as amended by Section 1(e) of Pub. L. 105-139, provides that once the Employment Third Preference Other Worker (EW) cut-off date has reached the priority date of the latest EW petition approved prior to November 19, 1997, the 10,000 EW numbers available for a fiscal year are to be reduced by up to 5,000 annually beginning in the following fiscal year. This reduction is to be made for as long as necessary to offset adjustments under the NACARA program. Since the EW cut-off date reached November 19, 1997 during Fiscal Year 2001, the reduction in the EW annual limit to 5,000 began in Fiscal Year 2002. B. DATES FOR FILING OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED VISA APPLICATIONS The chart below reflects dates for filing visa applications within a timeframe justifying immediate action in the application process. Applicants for immigrant visas who have a priority date earlier than the application date in the chart may assemble and submit required documents to the Department of State’s National Visa Center, following receipt of notification from the National Visa Center containing detailed instructions. The application date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who cannot submit documentation to the National Visa Center for an immigrant visa. If a category is designated “current,” all applicants in the relevant category may file, regardless of priority date. The “C” listing indicates that the category is current, and that applications may be filed regardless of the applicant’s priority date. The listing of a date for any category indicates that only applicants with a priority date which is earlier than the listed date may file their application. Visit www.uscis.gov/visabulletininfo for information on whether USCIS has determined that this chart can be used (in lieu of the chart in paragraph 5.A.) this month for filing applications for adjustment of status with USCIS. Employment- based All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA- mainland born EL SALVADOR GUATEMALA HONDURAS INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES 1st 01SEP18 01OCT17 01SEP18 01OCT17 01SEP18 01SEP18 2nd C 01FEB17 C 01JUN09 C C 3rd C 01JUN16 C 01APR10 C C Other Workers C 01JUN08 C 01APR10 C C 4th C C 01SEP16 C C C Certain Religious Workers C C 01SEP16 C C C 5th Non-Regional Center (C5 and T5) C 15NOV14 C C C C 5th Regional Center (I5 and R5) C 15NOV14 C C C C 6. The Department of State has a recorded message with the Final Action date information which can be heard at: (202) 485-7699. This recording is updated on or about the tenth of each month with information on final action dates for the following month. B. DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT (DV) CATEGORY FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST Section 203(c) of the INA provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year to permit additional immigration opportunities for persons from countries with low admissions during the previous five years. The NACARA 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 resulted in reduction of the DV-2019 annual limit 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 August, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2019 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 CURRENT ASIA CURRENT EUROPE CURRENT NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) CURRENT OCEANIA CURRENT SOUTH AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN CURRENT 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-2019 program ends as of September 30, 2019. DV visas may not be issued to DV-2019 applicants after that date. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2019 principals are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2019. DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2019 cannot be taken for granted. Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30. C. THE DIVERSITY (DV) IMMIGRANT CATEGORY RANK CUT-OFFS WHICH WILL APPLY IN SEPTEMBER For September, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2019 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 CURRENT ASIA CURRENT EUROPE CURRENT NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) CURRENT OCEANIA CURRENT SOUTH AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN CURRENT D. ESTABLISHMENT AND RETROGRESSION OF AUGUST EMPLOYMENT-BASED FINAL ACTION DATES There has been a steadily increasing level of Employment applicant demand since late May for adjustment of status cases filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and there is no indication that this increase will end. Therefore, it has been necessary to establish or retrogress many of the August Final Action Dates in an effort to hold worldwide number use within the maximum allowed under the respective FY-2019 annual limits. The implementation of the above mentioned dates is expected to be only a temporary issue. For October, the first month of fiscal year 2020, every effort will be made to return these final action dates to those which applied for July. E. DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY 2020 (DV-2020) RESULTS The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2020 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available up to 55,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 83,884 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2020 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2020 (October 1, 2019 until September 30, 2020). Applicants registered for the DV-2020 program were selected at random from 14,722,798 qualified entries (23,182,554 with derivatives) received during the 34-day application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, October 3, 2018, until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, November 6, 2018. 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 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total available visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2020 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2020 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2020 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2020 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2020. Dates for the DV-2021 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months. Those interested in entering the DV-2021 program should check the Department of State’s Visa web page in the coming months. The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign state of chargeability of those registered for the DV-2020 program: AFRICA ALGERIA 2,745 ESWATINI 0 NAMIBIA 6 ANGOLA 150 ETHIOPIA 1,974 NIGER 31 BENIN 443 GABON 34 RWANDA 603 BOTSWANA 2 GAMBIA, THE 25 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0 BURKINA FASO 84 GHANA 1,343 SENEGAL 91 BURUNDI 228 GUINEA 271 SEYCHELLES 1 CABO VERDE 10 GUINEA-BISSAU 2 SIERRA LEONE 217 CAMEROON 1,589 KENYA 1,801 SOMALIA 72 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 5 LESOTHO 0 SOUTH AFRICA 162 CHAD 93 LIBERIA 1,142 SOUTH SUDAN 23 COMOROS 1 LIBYA 102 SUDAN 3,691 CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE 4,743 MADAGASCAR 9 TANZANIA 72 CONGO, REPUBLIC OF THE 258 MALAWI 4 TOGO 600 COTE D’IVOIRE 364 MALI 30 TUNISIA 82 DJIBOUTI 59 MAURITANIA 25 UGANDA 374 EGYPT 5,568 MAURITIUS 4 ZAMBIA 12 EQUATORIAL GUINEA 5 MOROCCO 2,202 ZIMBABWE 61 ERITREA 140 MOZAMBIQUE 9 ASIA AFGHANISTAN 981 JAPAN 333 QATAR 72 BAHRAIN 10 JORDAN 633 SAUDI ARABIA 699 BHUTAN 27 KOREA, NORTH 11 SINGAPORE 15 BRUNEI 1 KUWAIT 165 SRI LANKA 765 BURMA 444 LAOS 64 SYRIA 265 CAMBODIA 790 LEBANON 135 TAIWAN 476 HONG KONG S.A.R. 92 MALAYSIA 68 THAILAND 127 INDONESIA 194 MALDIVES 2 TIMOR-LESTE 0 IRAN 4,101 MONGOLIA 265 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 206 IRAQ 615 NEPAL 3,696 YEMEN 550 ISRAEL 128 OMAN 11 EUROPE ALBANIA 3,603 GREECE 48 NORTHERN IRELAND 13 ANDORRA 8 HUNGARY 84 NORWAY 12 ARMENIA 1,422 ICELAND 0 POLAND 384 AUSTRIA 38 IRELAND 19 PORTUGAL 12 AZERBAIJAN 899 ITALY 220 Macau 5 BELARUS 1,512 KAZAKHSTAN 1,584 ROMANIA 311 BELGIUM 32 KOSOVO 260 RUSSIA 5,118 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 40 KYRGYZSTAN 1,223 SERBIA 210 BULGARIA 343 LATVIA 68 SLOVAKIA 30 CROATIA 40 LIECHTENSTEIN 0 SLOVENIA 4 CYPRUS 5 LITHUANIA 151 SPAIN 99 CZECH REPUBLIC 31 LUXEMBOURG 0 SWEDEN 36 DENMARK 17 MACEDONIA 249 SWITZERLAND 49 ESTONIA 30 MALTA 6 TAJIKISTAN 1,401 FINLAND 15 MOLDOOVA 1,112 TURKEY 2,709 FRANCE 212 MONACO 3 TURKMENISTAN 515 New Caledonia 3 MONTENEGRO 35 UKRAINE 3,313 GEORGIA 1,131 NETHERLANDS 56 UZBEKISTAN 1,743 GERMANY 328 Aruba 3 VATICAN CITY 0 NORTH AMERICA BAHAMAS, THE 20 OCEANIA AUSTRALIA 647 MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF 0 SAMOA 4 Christmas Island 2 NAURU 6 SOLOMON ISLANDS 4 Cocos Keeling Islands 9 NEW ZEALAND 181 TONGA 42 Norfolk Island 1 Cook Islands 15 TUVALU 0 FIJI 435 Tokelau 1 VANUATU 7 KIRIBATI 12 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 11 MARSHALL ISLANDS 0 PALAU 1 SOUTH AMERICA ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 1 DOMINICA 0 PARAGUAY 9 ARGENTINA 30 ECUADOR 134 SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 0 BARBADOS 1 GRENADA 0 SAINT LUCIA 0 BELIZE 2 GUATEMALA 60 SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 0 BOLIVIA 22 GUYANA 3 SURINAME 0 CHILE 21 HONDURAS 58 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 19 COSTA RICA 12 NICARAGUA 23 URUGUAY 15 CUBA 2,703 PANAMA 8 VENEZUELA 1,068 Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2020: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. F. OBTAINING THE MONTHLY 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 (example: Subscribe Visa-Bulletin) 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 final action dates which can be heard at: (202) 485-7699. The recording is normally updated on/about the 10th of each month with information on final action 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: July 5, 2019 GHANA 2,484 TANZANIA 106

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