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 5	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.