September 2020 Visa Bulletin Special Notes

For the official September 2020 Visa Bulletin and Analysis, please click here: https://www.mygcvisa.com/visa-bulletin/2020/visa-bulletin-september-2020.aspx

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

D. FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON VISA PROCESSING AT U.S. EMBASSIES AND CONSULATES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, PLEASE VISIT THE BUREAU OF CONSULAR AFFAIRS WEBSITE AT TRAVEL.STATE.GOV

E. DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY 2021 (DV-2021) RESULTS

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2021 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *55,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 132,404 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 *55,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2021 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2021 (October 1, 2020 until September 30, 2021).

Applicants registered for the DV-2021 program were selected at random from 6,741,128 qualified entries (11,830,707 with derivatives) received during the 35-day application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, October 2, 2019, until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, November 6, 2019. 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 *55,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2021 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2021 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2021 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2021 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2021.

Dates for the DV-2022 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months. Those interested in entering the DV-2022 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. This will result in reduction of the DV-2021 annual limit to approximately 54,750.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign state of chargeability of those registered for the DV-2021 program:

AFRICA
ALGERIA 6,001	ESWATINI 3	NAMIBIA 0
ANGOLA 627	ETHIOPIA 3,957	NIGER 55
BENIN 830	GABON 65	RWANDA 1,067
BOTSWANA 3	GAMBIA, THE 71	SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0
BURKINA FASO 83	GHANA 3,284	SENEGAL 167
BURUNDI 398	GUINEA 805	SEYCHELLES 4
CABO VERDE 6	GUINEA-BISSAU 7	SIERRA LEONE 504
CAMEROON 3,686	KENYA 2,777	SOMALIA 217
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 22	LESOTHO 3	SOUTH AFRICA 510
CHAD 191	LIBERIA 1,858	SOUTH SUDAN 40
COMOROS 10	LIBYA 259	SUDAN 6,001
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE 4,503	MADAGASCAR 23	TANZANIA 184
CONGO, REPUBLIC OF THE 740	MALAWI 32	TOGO 1,118
COTE D'IVOIRE 737	MALI 103	TUNISIA 173
DJIBOUTI 175	MAURITANIA 105	UGANDA 908
EGYPT 6,002	MAURITIUS 12	ZAMBIA 67
EQUATORIAL GUINEA 6	MOROCCO 4,458	ZIMBABWE 276
ERITREA 509	MOZAMBIQUE 7
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN 2,189	JAPAN 532	QATAR 82
BAHRAIN 19	JORDAN 1,578	SAUDI ARABIA 1,126
BHUTAN 69	KOREA, NORTH 3	SINGAPORE 40
BRUNEI 1	KUWAIT 302	SRI LANKA 1,566
BURMA 776	LAOS 43	SYRIA 487
CAMBODIA 1,174	LEBANON 249	TAIWAN 693
HONG KONG S.A.R. 569	MALAYSIA 95	THAILAND 290
INDONESIA 317	MALDIVES 0	TIMOR-LESTE 0
IRAN 6,001	MONGOLIA 496	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 282
IRAQ 1,184	NEPAL 3,801	YEMEN 1,222
ISRAEL 190	OMAN 32
EUROPE
ALBANIA 3,962	GREECE 71	NORTHERN IRELAND 4
ANDORRA 0	HUNGARY 93	NORWAY 7
ARMENIA 2,293	ICELAND 11	POLAND 383
AUSTRIA 35	IRELAND 29	PORTUGAL 24
AZERBAIJAN 1,439	ITALY 289	Macau 6
BELARUS 2,143	KAZAKHSTAN 2,406	ROMANIA 365
BELGIUM 32	KOSOVO 311	RUSSIA 6,001
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 36	KYRGYZSTAN 2,130	SERBIA 239
BULGARIA 348	LATVIA 63	SLOVAKIA 23
CROATIA 32	LIECHTENSTEIN 1	SLOVENIA 6
CYPRUS 2	LITHUANIA 180	SPAIN 114
CZECH REPUBLIC 44	LUXEMBOURG 0	SWEDEN 41
DENMARK 24	MALTA 5	SWITZERLAND 48
ESTONIA 18	MOLDOOVA 1,565	TAJIKISTAN 2,332
FINLAND 26	MONACO 1	TURKEY 2,874
FRANCE 272	MONTENEGRO 33	TURKMENISTAN 870
Saint Martin 6	NETHERLANDS 43	UKRAINE 5,604
GEORGIA 1,899	Curacao 1	UZBEKISTAN 5,319
GERMANY 563	NORTH MACEDONIA 336	VATICAN CITY 0

NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE 29
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA 1,130	NAURU 11	SAMOA 8
Cocos Keeling Islands 19	NEW ZEALAND 360	SOLOMON ISLANDS 4
FIJI 1,087	Cook Islands 32	TONGA 95
KIRIBATI 12	Tokelau 5	TUVALU 2
MARSHALL ISLANDS 0	PAPUA NEW GUINEA 29	VANUATU 7
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF 9	PALAU 5
SOUTH AMERICA
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 5	DOMINICA 3	PERU 1,559
ARGENTINA 191	ECUADOR 246	SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 1
BARBADOS 5	GRENADA 1	SAINT LUCIA 2
BELIZE 8	GUYANA 5	SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 3
BOLIVIA 38	HONDURAS 74	SURINAME 4
CHILE 36	NICARAGUA 69	TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 44
COSTA RICA 68	PANAMA 10	URUGUAY 19
CUBA 1,235	PARAGUAY 3	VENEZUELA 1,872

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2021: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

F. DETERMINATION OF THE NUMERICAL LIMITS ON IMMIGRANTS REQUIRED UNDER THE TERMS OF THE IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY ACT (INA)

The State Department is required to make the determination of the worldwide numerical limitations, as outlined in Section 201(c) and (d) of the INA, on an annual basis. These calculations are based in part on data provided by U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) regarding the number of immediate relative adjustments in the preceding year and the number of aliens paroled into the United States under Section 212(d)(5) in the second preceding year. Without this information, it is impossible to make an official determination of the annual limits. To avoid delays in processing while waiting for the USCIS data, the Visa Office (VO) bases allocations on the minimum annual limits outlined in Section 201 of the INA. On July 31st, USCIS provided the required data to VO.

The Department of State has determined the Family and Employment preference numerical limits for FY-2020 in accordance with the terms of Section 201 of the INA. These numerical limitations for FY-2020 are as follows:

Worldwide Family-Sponsored preference limit: 226,000
Worldwide Employment-Based preference limit: 156,253

Under INA Section 202(a), the per-country limit is fixed at 7% of the family and employment annual limits. For FY-2020 the per-country limit is 26,758. The dependent area annual limit is 2%, or 7,645.