August 2019 Visa Bulletin Special Notes

For the official August 2019 Visa Bulletin and analysis, please click here: https://www.mygcvisa.com/visa-bulletin/2019/visa-bulletin-august-2019.aspx

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

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.