OK I Have just copied what was written in the documents of that DV pdf about cutoffs
THE OPERATION 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. This
information sheet explains the operation of the immigrant number allotment and control system.
1. HOW THE SYSTEM OPERATES:
At the beginning of each month, the Visa Office (VO) receives a report from each consular 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 specified by the INA into
monthly allotments. The totals of documentarily qualified applicants which have been reported
to VO, are compared each month with the numbers available for the next regular allotment. The
determination of how many numbers are available requires consideration of several of variables,
including: past number use; estimates of future number use and return rates; and estimates of
Citizenship and Immigration Service demand based on cut-off date movements. Once this is
done, the cut-off dates are established and numbers are allocated to reported applicants in order
of their priority dates, the oldest dates first.
If there are sufficient numbers in a particular category to satisfy all reported documentarily
qualified demand, the category is considered "Current". For example: If the monthly allocation
target is 3,000 and we only have demand for 1,000 applicants the category can be "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. For example: If the monthly target is 3,000 and we have demand for 8,000
applicants, then we would need to establish a cut-off date so that only 3,000 numbers would be
allocated. In this case, the cut-off would be the priority date of the 3,001st applicant.
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 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 are immediately transmitted to consular posts and Citizenship and Immigration
Services (CIS), and also published in the Visa Bulletin and online at the CA Web site
(
www.travel.state.gov). Visa allotments for use during that month are transmitted to consular
posts. CIS requests visa allotments for adjustment of status cases only when all other case
processing has been completed.