Did you ever wonder how visa availability is calculated or why India and China are so backlogged in recent years?
Did you ever wonder how visa availability is calculated or why India and China are so backlogged in recent years?
Each month the Department of State Visa Office subdivides the annual preference and foreign state limitations specified by the Immigration and Nationality Act into monthly allotments based on the total qualified immigrant visa applicants reported at consular posts and USCIS offices, grouped by foreign state chargeability, preference category, and priority date. If there are sufficient numbers in a particular category to satisfy all reported qualified applicants, the category is considered “Current.”
For example: If the monthly allocation target is 3,000 and there is only demand for 1,000 applicants, the category will be “Current.” Whenever the total 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 qualified applicant who could not be accommodated for a visa number.
For example: If the monthly target is 3,000 and there is demand for 8,000 applicants, then it would be necessary to establish a cut-off date so that only 3,000 numbers would be allocated. In this case, the cut-off would be the priority date of the 3,001st applicant.
The chart below shows the estimated total number of visas available for each employment preference category and country for fiscal year 2013.
|
Employment |
|||
|
Preference |
China |
All Other Countries |
Worldwide Limit |
|
E1 |
2, 803 |
2, 803 |
40, 040 |
|
E2 |
2, 803 |
2, 803 |
40, 040 |
|
E3/EW |
2, 503* |
2, 803 |
40, 040*** |
|
E4/SR |
691 |
696 |
9, 940 |
|
E5 |
0* |
695 |
9, 940 |
|
Total |
8, 800* |
9, 800 |
140, 000 |
Unused numbers can “fall-down” from E1 to E2 to E3. Unused numbers can “fall-up” from E4 and E5 to E1. This is taken into consideration when setting monthly/annual targets for number use based on historical/recent patterns.
The following charts demonstrate the demand data used in the determination of the February 2013 Employment Preference Cut-Off Dates.
|
Employment Second Preference |
|
Cumulative Demand Prior To |
All Other Countries |
China |
India |
Grand Total |
|
January 1, 2005 |
0 |
0 |
275 |
275 |
|
January 1, 2006 |
0 |
0 |
725 |
725 |
|
January 1, 2007 |
0 |
0 |
1, 550 |
1, 550 |
|
January 1, 2008 |
0 |
150 |
7, 050 |
7, 200 |
|
January 1, 2009 |
25 |
3, 650 |
23, 550 |
27, 225 |
|
January 1, 2010 |
25 |
6, 300 |
36, 925 |
43, 250 |
|
January 1, 2012 |
175 |
7, 125 |
41, 700 |
49, 000 |
|
|
Employment Third Preference |
||||||
|
Cumulative Demand Prior To |
All Other Countries |
China |
India |
Mexico |
Philippines |
Grand Total |
|
|
January 1, 2005 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
January 1, 2006 |
150 |
0 |
1, 550 |
0 |
0 |
1, 700 |
|
|
January 1, 2007 |
75 |
0 |
12, 125 |
0 |
0 |
12, 200 |
|
|
January 1, 2008 |
125 |
0 |
24, 100 |
0 |
0 |
24, 225 |
|
|
January 1, 2009 |
200 |
0 |
32, 000 |
0 |
0 |
32, 200 |
|
|
January 1, 2010 |
200 |
350 |
41, 550 |
25 |
4, 650 |
46, 775 |
|
|
January 1, 2012 |
6, 775 |
825 |
45, 100 |
750 |
7, 000 |
60, 450 |
|
Applications for Chinese and Indian nationals have increased dramatically in past six or seven (6-7) years. Especially interesting is how much India and All Other Countries have increased in the Employment Third Preference when China has only had a minimal increase in this category. Unless there is immigration reform, the backlog in both preference categories will continue to increase.
You can monitor the Visa Bulletin on our website at www.bashyamspiro.com or at the Department of State site at this LINK.