Monthly Determination of Employment Preference Cut-Off Dates

Each month, the Visa Office subdivides the annual preference and foreign state limitations specified by the INA into monthly allotments based on totals of documentarily qualified immigrant visa applicants reported at consular posts and CIS Offices, grouped by foreign state chargeability, preference category, and priority date. 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 there is only demand for 1,000 applicants, the category will 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 there is demand for 8,000 applicants, then it would be necessary 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.

 

READ  MARCH 2013

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The chart below shows the estimated total number of visas available for each employment preference category and country for fiscal year 2013.

Employment

Preference

China

All Other Countries

Worldwide Limit

E1

2,803

2,803

40,040

E2

2,803

2,803

40,040

E3/EW

2,503*

2,803

40,040**

E4/SR

691

696

9,940

E5

0*

695

9,940

Total

8,800*

9,800

140,000

*The provisions of the Chinese Student Protection Act require that the China annual limit be reduced by 1,000. A total of 300 numbers are deducted from the E3 category, and 700 from the E5 category.
**The EW category is currently entitled to no more than 5,000 of this total.

Unused numbers can “fall-down” from E1 to E2 to E3. Unused numbers can “fall-up” from E4 and E5 to E1. This is taken into consideration when setting monthly/annual targets for number use based on historical/recent patterns.

Demand Data Used in the Determination of the March 2013

Employment Preference Cut-Off Dates

Employment Second Preference

Cumulative Demand Prior To

All Other Countries

China

India

Grand Total

January 1, 2005

0

0

300

300

January 1, 2006

0

0

775

775

January 1, 2007

0

0

1,650

1,650

January 1, 2008

0

25

7,300

7,325

January 1, 2009

50

3,450

23,975

27,475

January 1, 2010

125

6,150

37,450

43,725

January 1, 2012

150

6,975

42,400

49,525

Employment Third Preference

Cumulative Demand Prior To

All Other Countries

China

India

Mexico

Philippines

Grand Total

January 1, 2002

0

0

0

0

0

0

January 1, 2003

75

0

1,400

0

0

1,475

January 1, 2004

100

0

11,800

0

0

11,900

January 1, 2005

125

0

23,650

0

0

23,775

January 1, 2006

200

0

31,500

0

0

31,700

January 1, 2007

200

150

41,000

25

4,400

45,775

January 1, 2012

5,100

625

44,500

550

6,700

57,475

Notes:

The imposition of cut-off dates for some categories/countries has limited the amount of applicants who have been able to file for adjustment of status with USCIS, and such applicants would not be included in the above totals. In addition, new applicants are constantly becoming eligible for processing in categories for which cut- off dates do not apply, or for a category other than that which they initially filed for status. Therefore, the above totals should not be interpreted to reflect the total universe of applicant demand. These totals only represent the amount of demand which was taken into consideration during the determination of new dates.

– All totals are approximate data values as of Feb. 8, 2013

Source AILA.org