Visa Bulletin for November 2021

What the State Department said

Expiration of the employment-based fifth preference i5 and r5 regional center visa categories

Division O, Title 1, Section 104 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 extended the immigrant investor pilot program until June 30, 2021. No I5 or R5 visas may be issued overseas, or final action taken on adjustment of status cases after June 30, 2021.

The final action dates for the I5 and R5 categories have been listed as “Unavailable” for November.

If there is legislative action extending this category for November, the final action dates would immediately become “Current” for November for all countries except China-mainland born I5 and R5, which would be subject to a November 22, 2015 final action date.

China-mainland born and India employment third preference final action dates retrogress for novmber

It has been necessary to retrogress both the China-mainland born and India Employment Third preference final action dates. This is a direct result of extraordinarily heavy applicant demand for numbers, primarily by Citizenship and Immigration Services offices for adjustment of status cases.

Explanation of the numerical control system, annual and per-country limits

WHAT CAUSES THE ESTABLISHMENT OF FINAL ACTION DATES?

The Visa Office (VO) subdivides the annual preference and foreign state limitations specified in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) into twelve monthly allotments. The totals of documentarily complete applicants that have been reported to VO are compared each month with the numbers available for the next regular allotment and numbers are allocated to reported applicants in order of their priority dates (the oldest dates first).

- If there are enough visa numbers available in a particular category to satisfy all reported documentarily complete demand, the category is considered “Current.” For example, if the Employment First preference monthly target is 5,000 and there are only 3,000 applicants, the category is considered “Current.”

- Whenever the total number of documentarily complete applicants in a category exceeds the supply of numbers available for allotment for the upcoming month, the category is considered “oversubscribed”, and a visa availability final action date is established. The final action date is the priority date of the first documentarily complete applicant who could not be accommodated for the use of a visa number. For example, if the Employment First preference monthly target is 5,000 and there are 8,000 applicants, a final action date would be established so that only 5,000 numbers would be used, and the final action date would be the priority date of the 5,001st applicant.

Applicants entitled to immigrant status become documentarily complete at their own initiative and convenience and upon the completion of various processing requirements. Therefore, it is extremely important to remember that by no means has every applicant with a priority date earlier than a prevailing final action date been processed for final visa action. On the contrary, visa allotments are made only based on the total applicants reported documentarily complete each month and in consideration of other variables. Demand for visa numbers can fluctuate from one month to another with an inevitable impact on final action dates, an important fact to remember as processing continues to return to normal pre-COVID levels.

Annual Family-sponsored and Employment-based limit: Section 201 of the INA sets an annual minimum Family-sponsored preference limit of 226,000, while the worldwide annual level for Employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000. Unused numbers from the previous year’s annual limits are considered in the calculation of these annual limits.

@travelgov hosting monthly youtube live “chats with charlie”

@TravelGov will be hosting "Chats with Charlie" on our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/TravelGov) to discuss information provided in the monthly Visa Bulletin with our expert Charlie Oppenheim. This month’s chat is scheduled to take place on October 26, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. EST to discuss the November Visa Bulletin. Questions can be emailed to [email protected] ahead of the event with "Chat with Charlie Question" in the subject line. Questions will also be taken via the YouTube Live Chat and will be answered in real-time. The event is intended to address issues of general interest related to the content of the Visa Bulletin, and no policy, case or post specific questions will be accepted. This will be Charlie’s last chat before his retirement, but @TravelGov will continue to host chats on consular related issues.