September 2014 Visa Bulletin

(source:http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy/bulletin/2014/visa-bulletin-for-september-2014.html)

Brief Explanation:

An applicant’s ‘priority date’ is the day that the government received the employer’s PERM application. However, if a PERM application is not required, the priority date is the date the government received an EB visa petition (I-140, or I-360).

The employment-based (EB) categories are as follows: 1) EB1 Priority Workers; 2) EB2 Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability; 3) EB3 Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers; 4) EB4 Certain Special Immigrants, including Religious Workers; and 5) EB5 Employment Creation, including Investors.

EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCES

First:  Priority Workers:  28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required for fourth and fifth preferences. Second:  Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability:  28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required by first preference. Third:  Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers:  28.6% of the worldwide level, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences, not more than 10,000 of which to “*Other Workers”. Fourth:  Certain Special Immigrants:  7.1% of the worldwide level. Fifth:  Employment Creation:  7.1% of the worldwide level, not less than 3,000 of which reserved for investors in a targeted rural or high-unemployment area, and 3,000 set aside for investors in regional centers by Sec. 610 of Pub. L. 102-395. On the chart below, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed (see paragraph 1); “C” means current, i.e., numbers are available for all qualified applicants; and “U” means unavailable, i.e., no numbers are available.  (NOTE:  Numbers are available only for applicants whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed below.)

Employment- Based All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA – mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
1st C C C C C
2nd C 08OCT09 01MAY09 C C
3rd 01APR11 01NOV08 08NOV03 01APR11 01APR11
Other Workers 01APR11 22JUL05 08NOV03 01APR11 01APR11
4th C C C C C
Certain Religious Workers C C C C C
5th Targeted EmploymentAreas/ Regional Centers and Pilot Programs C C C C C

FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCES

First: (F1) Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens:  23,400 plus any numbers not required for fourth preference.

Second: Spouses and Children, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent Residents:  114,200, plus the number (if any) by which the worldwide family preference level exceeds 226,000, plus any unused first preference numbers:

A. (F2A) Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents:  77% of the overall second preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit;

B. (F2B) Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older) of Permanent Residents:  23% of the overall second preference limitation.

Third: (F3) Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens:  23,400, plus any numbers not required by first and second preferences.

Fourth: (F4) Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens:  65,000, plus any numbers not required by first three preferences.

On the chart below, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed (see paragraph 1); “C” means current, i.e., numbers are available for all qualified applicants; and “U” means unavailable, i.e., no numbers are available. (NOTE:  Numbers are available only for applicants whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed below.)

Family-Sponsored All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA-mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES
F1 01MAY07 01MAY07 01MAY07 01JUN94 01AUG04
F2A 01JAN13 01JAN13 01JAN13 22APR12 01JAN13
F2B 01SEP07 01SEP07 01SEP07 15MAY94 01DEC03
F3 15NOV03 15NOV03 15NOV03 15OCT93 22MAY93
F4 01JAN02 01JAN02 01JAN02 22JAN97 15MAR91

*NOTE:  For September, F2A numbers EXEMPT from per-country limit are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 22APR12.  F2A numbers SUBJECT to per-country limit are available to applicants chargeable to all countries EXCEPT MEXICO with priority dates beginning 22APR12 and earlier than 01JAN13.  (All F2A numbers provided for MEXICO are exempt from the per-country limit; there are no F2A numbers for MEXICO subject to per-country limit.)

For family preferences, persons born in countries other than India, China, Mexico and the Philippines should look in the “Worldwide” current on the left side of the Visa Bulletin to determine their “priority date”. A priority date in the family preference is established by the receipt of a relative visa petition in the family categories.  The word “Current” indicates that no backlog presently exists in a particular category. Alternately, the word “Unavailable” indicates that it is not possible to apply for permanent residence in that category.

Please be aware that the dates in the Visa Bulletin that may show as “current” now but may backlog before you can realistically able to file the I-485, particularly in the employment preferences. The Family Based Categories, on the other hand, can be very misleading as they often look closer on the Bulletin than they are in reality (e.g. sometimes the category may move by a single week in one month for months at a time).