[This is the third of three articles on the subject of immigrant visa quota management and how it relates to the establishment and movement of Visa Bulletin cutoff dates.]

The Department of State’s Visa Office has exclusive jurisdiction over the monthly allocation of immigrant visa numbers under the annual quota. In order to manage the quota, they publish the Monthly Visa Bulletin. This bulletin shows the availability of visas for each preference category and, if applicable, each foreign state affected by the single state limit.

If visas are immediately available to all applicants, the entry for the appropriate category will show as “C” or “current.” If not all qualified applicants can be accommodated immediately, the entry will show a date, known as a “cutoff” date. If no visas are available to any candidates in a specific category, the entry will show “U” or “unavailable.”

The Visa Office has explained this system as follows:

“If there are sufficient numbers in a particular category to satisfy all reported documentarily qualified demand, the category is considered “Current.” For example, if the Employment Third preference monthly target is 5,000 and there are only 3,000 applicants, the category is considered “Current”.

Whenever the total of documentarily qualified applicants in a category exceeds the supply of numbers available for allotment for the particular month, the category is considered to be “oversubscribed” and a visa availability cut-off date is established. The cut-off date is the priority date of the first documentarily qualified applicant who could not be accommodated for a visa number. For example, if the Employment Third preference monthly target is 5,000 and there are 15,000 applicants, a cut-off date would be established so that only 5,000 numbers would be used, and the cut-off date would be the priority date of the 5,001st applicant.”

The waiting list for immigrant visas is thus ordered chronologically by applicants’ priority dates. (A priority date the earlier of the date the applicant’s labor certification was accepted for processing or the date the applicant’s labor certification exempt I-140 petition was accepted by the CIS.) This list is dynamic in that when long pending I-140 petitions are approved, the beneficiaries are slotted into the list as of their older priority dates. This moves them into place ahead of those with more recently filed and approved petitions. Similarly, when someone with multiple petition approvals immigrates, the unused petitions are removed from the waiting list.

The Visa Office receives formal reports from all overseas consular posts at the end of each calendar month. This report summarizes the number of immigrant visa applicants who are documentarily qualified. “Documentarily qualified” immigrant visa applicants are those who have submitted all required documents and are only awaiting their final interviews. The CIS also provides the Visa Office with requests for immigrant visa numbers. Generally, around the start of the second full week of the month, the Visa Office calculates the availability of visas and issues the cutoff dates for the following month.

In making their calculations, the Visa Office must look at the available supply of by preference category and chargeability area to determine how many are available for each. Next, they determine the demand for visas at that time. This is determined by the reports from overseas consular offices as well as the requests for visas from the CIS.

Some months, the demand for visas is lower than the available supply. In these cases, the applicable categories are shown as current. In many cases, however, the demand greater than the supply and the establishment of a cutoff date is necessary. In these instances, the cutoff date may move forward from the previous month if the demand is less than the previous month.

The cutoff date can also retrogress, or move backward. This happens when demand increases beyond that of previous months, or when supply diminishes. Imagine a situation where, suddenly, due to the CIS adjudicating 10,000 I-140 petitions in a single month, people with older priority dates enter the line. This is yet another situation that could cause cutoff date retrogression.

One of the big differences between consular processing and adjustment of status lies in how visa numbers are reserved for each. Consular officers report the number and type of qualified applicants before the end of each month. Let’s use January as an example. In this case, in early February, the Visa Office then does three things. First, they calculate the numbers of applicants who may receive visas for the following month (March). Second, they issue the March Visa Bulletin, showing the cutoff dates available for that month. Third, and finally, they reserve visa numbers for all of the consular posts around the world that reported cases in January. They notify those posts of the reserved visas and the posts then notify applicants that they will be interviewed in March. Each applicant has a visa number reserved for issuance in March.

With adjustment of status, things are different. When a CIS adjudicator approves an adjustment application, he or she must contact the Visa Office and request a visa number. If numbers are available, a number is issued and the case is closed. That number is then counted against the quota. If no number is presently available, the case must remain open until a number becomes available. In such cases, the CIS usually sends the file to CIS archives, to be called up later after the applicant’s priority date becomes current. This process is not automatic, however, and if the CIS fails to recall the case, it remains pending.

 

This article was researched and written by Jim Gotcher and Ron Gotcher.