Friday, June 9, 2017

Visa Bulletin July 2017 Special Notes

For the official July 2017 Visa Bulletin, please click here: http://www.mygcvisa.com/visa-bulletin/2017/visa-bulletin-july-2017.aspx

Apart from posting current dates, State Department has also added special notes to Visa Bulletin mentioned above. Please see full details below:

D.  OVERSUBSCRIPTION OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE
     CATEGORIES

CHINA Employment-based Third (E3) preference category:  Readers were advised in item F of the June Visa Bulletin number 6, that it would be necessary to impose a date no later than August. The continued high level of demand for E3 numbers for USCIS adjustment of status applicants has required the establishment of a date for July. This has been done in an attempt to hold number use within the China E3 annual limit. The China E3 date will return to October 1, 2014 for October, the first month of fiscal year 2018.


INDIA Employment-based Fourth (E4) AND Certain Religious Workers (SR) preference categories:  As readers were advised in the June Visa Bulletin number 6, there has been extremely high demand in the E4 and SR categories.  Pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act, it has been necessary to impose E4 and SR Final Action Dates for India, which has reached its per-country limit. This action will allow the Department to hold worldwide number use within the maximum allowed under the FY-2017 annual limits.

The date for these preferences will once again become CURRENT for October, the first month of fiscal year 2018.

E.  DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY 2018 (DV-2018) RESULTS

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2018 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 115,968 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-2018 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2018 (October 1, 2017 until September 30, 2018).

Applicants registered for the DV-2018 program were selected at random from 14,692,258 qualified entries (23,088,613 with derivatives) received during the 34-day application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, October 4, 2016, until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Monday, November 7, 2016.  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 *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2018 will end.  Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2018 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2018 registration.  Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2018 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2018.

Dates for the DV-2019 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months.  Those interested in entering the DV-2019 program should check the Department of State's Visa web page in the coming months.

*The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) 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 NACARA 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 of chargeability of those registered for the DV-2018 program:

AFRICA
ALGERIA  2,897 ETHIOPIA  4,496  NIGER  57
ANGOLA  184 GABON  41 RWANDA  542
BENIN  611 GAMBIA, THE 64 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE  0
BOTSWANA  10 GHANA  3,549 SENEGAL  400
BURKINA FASO  317 GUINEA  1,470 SEYCHELLES  0
BURUNDI  193 GUINEA-BISSAU
SIERRA LEONE  1,790
CABO VERDE  24 KENYA  2,997 SOMALIA  436
CAMEROON  3,720 LESOTHO  4 SOUTH AFRICA  500
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP.  17 LIBERIA  3,989 SOUTH SUDAN  34
CHAD  85 LIBYA  441 SUDAN   3,781
COMOROS  7 MADAGASCAR  50 SWAZILAND  3
CONGO  240 MALAWI  36 TANZANIA  173
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF THE  4,497
MALI  126 TOGO  1,667
COTE D'IVOIRE 1,029 MAURITANIA  79 TUNISIA  181
DJIBOUTI  121 MAURITIUS  24 UGANDA  485
EGYPT  4,495 MOROCCO  2,719 ZAMBIA  68
EQUATORIAL GUINEA  11 MOZAMBIQUE  6 ZIMBABWE  149
ERITREA  556 NAMIBIA  16  
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN  636 JAPAN  263 QATAR  46
BAHRAIN  14 JORDAN  447 SAUDI ARABIA  489
BHUTAN  16 NORTH KOREA  1 SINGAPORE  43
BRUNEI  2 KUWAIT  167 SRI LANKA  777
BURMA  209 LAOS  6 SYRIA  414
CAMBODIA  390 LEBANON  221 TAIWAN  318
HONG KONG SPECIAL
ADMIN. REGION  84
MALAYSIA  70 THAILAND  60
INDONESIA  167 MALDIVES  4 TIMOR-LESTE  0
IRAN  4,500 MONGOLIA  197 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 197
IRAQ  754 NEPAL  4,097 YEMEN  1,239
ISRAEL  159 OMAN  10  
EUROPE
ALBANIA  4,484 GREECE  171 NORTHERN IRELAND  16
ANDORRA  0 HUNGARY  205 NORWAY  47
ARMENIA  2,844 ICELAND  13   Svalbard  1
AUSTRIA  89 IRELAND  123 POLAND  863
AZERBAIJAN  961 ITALY  546 PORTUGAL  84
BELARUS  1,466 KAZAKHSTAN  1,020   Macau  5
BELGIUM  86 KOSOVO  464 ROMANIA  516
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 92 KYRGYZSTAN  753 RUSSIA  4,500
BULGARIA  776 LATVIA  91 SAN MARINO  0
CROATIA  63 LIECHTENSTEIN  0 SERBIA  560
CYPRUS  19 LITHUANIA  257 SLOVAKIA  82
CZECH REPUBLIC  95 LUXEMBOURG  2 SLOVENIA  10
DENMARK  45 MACEDONIA  514 SPAIN  311
  Faroe Islands  2 MALTA  2 SWEDEN  130
ESTONIA  61 MOLDOVA  1,418 SWITZERLAND  85
FINLAND  68 MONACO  3 TAJIKISTAN  1,209
FRANCE  649 MONTENEGRO  38 TURKEY  4,390
  French Polynesia  15 NETHERLANDS  79 TURKMENISTAN  306
  New Caledonia  2   Aruba 8  UKRAINE  4,478
GEORGIA  1,195    Curacao  10 UZBEKISTAN  4,494
GERMANY  886   Sint Maarten  4 VATICAN CITY  0 
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE  15    
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA  2,154 NEW ZEALAND  546 SAMOA  10
FIJI  900   Cook Islands 19 SOLOMON ISLANDS  10
KIRIBATI  18   Niue  1 TONGA  129
MARSHALL ISLANDS  0   Tokelau  2 TUVALU  0
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED
STATES OF  6
PALAU  3 VANUATU  17
NAURU  25 PAPUA NEW GUINEA  23  
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN 
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA  2 DOMINICA  8 PARAGUAY  7
ARGENTINA  109 ECUADOR  1,228 SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS  1
BARBADOS  2 GRENADA  11 SAINT LUCIA  14
BELIZE  1 GUATEMALA  120 SAINT VINCENT AND THE
GRENADINES 8
BOLIVIA  52 GUYANA  10 SURINAME  6
CHILE  76 HONDURAS  144 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO  79
COSTA RICA  66 NICARAGUA  51 URUGUAY  36
CUBA  733 PANAMA  22 VENEZUELA  2,209

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2018:  Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R., Macau, and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.   


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