Overview Of The Immigrant Numerical Control System

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OVERVIEW OF THE IMMIGRANT NUMERICAL CONTROL SYSTEM


The Department of State is responsible for administering the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) relating to the numerical limitations on immigrant visa issuances. The following information provides a brief explanation of the operation of the immigrant number allotment and control system.

DEFINITION OF SOME TERMS

Allotment

The allocation of an immigrant number to a consular office or to BCIS. This number may be used for visa issuance or adjustment of status, or may be returned unused to the Visa Office (VO) for reincorporating into the pool of numbers available for later allocation during the fiscal year.

Foreign State Chargeability

Ordinarily an immigrant is chargeable for visa purposes to the numerical limitation for the foreign state or dependent area in which the immigrant's place of birth is located. Exceptions are provided for a child (unmarried and under 21 years of age) or spouse accompanying or following to join a principal to prevent the separation of family members, as well as for an applicant born in the U.S. or in a foreign state of which neither parent was a native or resident. Alternate chargeability is desirable when the visa cut-off date for the foreign state of a parent or spouse is more advantageous than that of the applicant's foreign state.

Priority Date

The priority date of a preference visa applicant is the filing date of the petition that accorded preference status.

Documentarily Qualified

The applicant has informed the consular processing office that they have obtained (after being requested to do so) all of the documents which are required to meet the formal visa application requirements.

HOW THE SYSTEM OPERATES

At the beginning of each month, the Visa Office receives a report from each immigrant visa processing post listing totals of documentarily qualified immigrant visa applicants in categories subject to numerical limitation.

Cases are grouped by foreign state chargeability/preference/priority date. No names are reported. During the first week of each month, this documentarily qualified demand is tabulated.

VO subdivides the annual preference and foreign state limitations which are specified by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) into twelve monthly allotments. The totals of documentarily qualified applicants reported to VO, and the expected USCIS demand for numbers, are compared each month with the numbers available for the next regular allotment. This allows for the determination of the monthly cut-off dates, and the allotment of numbers for reported applicants who have priority dates within the newly established cut-off dates.

If there are sufficient numbers in a particular category to satisfy all reported documentarily qualified demand, the category is considered "current".

Whenever the total of documentarily 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 documentarily qualified applicant who could not be accommodated for a visa number. Only persons with a priority date earlier than a cut-off date are entitled to allotment of a visa number. The cut-off dates are ordinarily the 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd of a month, since VO groups demand for numbers under these dates. (Priority dates of the first through seventh of a month are grouped under the 1st, the eighth through the fourteenth under the 8th, etc.)

VO attempts to establish the cut-off dates for the following month on or about the 8th of each month. The dates, along with visa allotments for use during that month, are immediately transmitted to consular posts, and also published in the Visa Bulletin.

Reprinted with permission from http://www.americanvisas.com

[noble1975]

dear sir,
thank you for the good information you provided in this article actaully my case now in the consulate in my country waiting my date to be current ,as i noted you devided the cases as intervals,i want to ask you if they reach 15,september next month that's mean my date is currnet as i'm 20,september or do i have to wait to them to reach 22.septmber?waiting your answer.
thanks.

[Bhasu]

Nobel1975, Your PD is not current till it pass your date, i.e. if currently someone is having his PD as 2nd Jan2002, would still be waiting and is equally impacted by Retrogression as yourself.

My Case is the same . my case is at Consulate waiting for PD to become current to schedule Interview. My PD is in November 2002. Any guess when it would be current ?

Thanks

[noble1975]

dear ,
which category you are in and which consulate you are applying my home consulate told me they will make my interview date after 2 months of my date become current,do you have the same senario?
thanks.

[Bhasu]

dear ,
which category you are in and which consulate you are applying my home consulate told me they will make my interview date after 2 months of my date become current,do you have the same senario?
thanks.

Hi Noble1975
I did not check with my Consulate (NWD) but my lawyer told me that sometime when the consulate see your date becoming current the next month, they schedule the interview. I dont know how correct is this. FYI my case is EB3.
Thanks