The August 2022 Visa Bulletin was released. The is movement in many categories of this month’s bulletin. Most notable, is the approximately 3 month advancement for the F2B Filing Date for All Areas except for Mexico and the Philippines. The EB5 China Filing Date also moved about 2 months. Read below to get up to date on other categories and the results of the Diversity Visa Lottery 2023.
Commentary:
August 2022
For all countries except India, China, Philippines, and Mexico: F1 category remains at December 1 2014; F2A category priority date remains current, F2B preference remains at a PD of 22 September 2015, F4 category remains at 22 March 2007; EB1 remains current; EB2 remains current; and EB3 remains current.
For India only: F2A category remains current, F2B preference remains at 22 September 2015, F4 remains a PD of 15 September 2005; EB1 remains current; EB2 remains at 1 December 2014; EB3 advances 31 days to 22 February 2012; All EB5 visas are current.
For China only: EB1 remains current; EB2 remains at 1 April 2019; EB3 advances 30 days to 22 April 2018; All EB5 Non-Regional Center are now current except for the EB5 Unreserved (I5 and R5) China remains PD date of 22 November 2015.
Vietnam is not individually listed and should use all countries category.
Can file your immigrant applications if PD before:
F2A Current; F2B advances 108 days to 17 January 2017 for All Areas, except Mexico remains at 1 August 2001 and Philippines remains at 1 October 2013 ; F4 advances 37 days to 15 December 2007 for All Areas, except India remains at 22 February 2006, Mexico remains at 15 March 2001, and Philippines remains 22 April 2004 .
EB1 Current for all countries, including China and India; EB2 All countries except India and China are current; EB3 Current for all countries except India and China; EB2 India remains at 15 January 15; EB3 India 22 January 2012; EB2 China remains at 1 May 2019; EB3 China advances 51 days to 22 May 2018; EB5 China (C5, T5, I5, R5 ) remains at 22 December 2015; All other EB5 China remain Current; Vietnam is not individually listed and should use the all countries category.
Notes copied from the Department of State regarding Visa availability:
D. DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY 2023 (DV-2023) RESULTS
The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the selectees who are eligible to participate in the DV-2023 Diversity Visa (DV) program. Random selection of DV participants was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which makes up to *55,000 permanent resident visas available annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 119,262 prospective applicants (i.e., selectees and their spouses and children) have been registered, notified, and may be eligible to make an application for an immigrant visa. Since selection is blind to the number of family members who might immigrate with the selectee, and it is likely that some of the selectees will not complete their cases or will be found ineligible for a visa, this larger figure should ensure that all DV-2023 numbers can be used during fiscal year 2023 (October 1, 2022, until September 30, 2023).
Entrants registered for the DV-2023 program were selected at random from 9,570,291 qualified entries received during the 35-day application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, until noon, Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, November 9, 2021. The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years. Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete all required steps.
Selectees who are physically present with legal status in the United States may apply to adjust their status by first contacting the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *55,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2023 will end. Selectees who do not receive visas by September 30, 2023, will derive no further benefit from their DV-2023 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2023 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2023.
Dates for the DV-2024 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months. Those interested in entering the DV-2024 program should check the Department of State’s Diversity Visa web page in the coming months.
*The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NACARA program. This will result in reduction of the DV-2023 annual limit to approximately 54,850.
The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign state of chargeability of those registered for the DV-2023 program:
| AFRICA | ||
| ALGERIA 5,526 | ESWATINI 5 | MOZAMBIQUE 2 |
| ANGOLA 422 | ETHIOPIA 2,761 | NAMIBIA 6 |
| BENIN 404 | GABON 45 | NIGER 78 |
| BOTSWANA 9 | GAMBIA, THE 65 | RWANDA 1,024 |
| BURKINA FASO 137 | GHANA 3,398 | SENEGAL 253 |
| BURUNDI 400 | GUINEA 706 | SIERRA LEONE 522 |
| CABO VERDE 24 | GUINEA-BISSAU 9 | SOMALIA 1,541 |
| CAMEROON 2,392 | KENYA 3,417 | SOUTH AFRICA 222 |
| CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC 19 | LIBERIA 1,221 | SOUTH SUDAN 53 |
| CHAD 257 | LIBYA 397 | SUDAN 4,863 |
| COMOROS 3 | MADAGASCAR 21 | TANZANIA 165 |
| CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE 4,385 | MALAWI 23 | TOGO 1,036 |
| CONGO, REPUBLIC OF THE 389 | MALI 90 | TUNISIA 168 |
| COTE D’IVOIRE 552 | MAURITANIA 174 | UGANDA 1,044 |
| DJIBOUTI 249 | MAURITIUS 1 | ZAMBIA 59 |
| EGYPT 5,529 | MOROCCO 4,469 | ZIMBABWE 202 |
| EQUATORIAL GUINEA 4 | Western Sahara 2 | |
| ERITREA 376 | ||
| ASIA | ||
| AFGHANISTAN 2,724 | JORDAN 937 | QATAR 92 |
| BAHRAIN 10 | KOREA, NORTH 2 | SAUDI ARABIA 658 |
| BHUTAN 115 | KUWAIT 118 | SINGAPORE 11 |
| BURMA 1,107 | LAOS 13 | SRI LANKA 2,019 |
| CAMBODIA 397 | LEBANON 249 | SYRIA 381 |
| INDONESIA 115 | MALAYSIA 45 | TAIWAN 188 |
| IRAN 5,506 | MALDIVES 1 | THAILAND 685 |
| IRAQ 1,300 | MONGOLIA 296 | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 175 |
| ISRAEL 66 | NEPAL 3,808 | YEMEN 2,807 |
| JAPAN 194 | OMAN 25 | |
| EUROPE | ||
| ALBANIA 2,001 | GREECE 28 | NORTHERN IRELAND 4 |
| ARMENIA 3,525 | HUNGARY 66 | NORWAY 4 |
| AUSTRIA 34 | ICELAND 4 | POLAND 228 |
| AZERBAIJAN 1,260 | IRELAND 13 | PORTUGAL 10 |
| BELARUS 1,535 | ITALY 154 | Macau 7 |
| BELGIUM 32 | KAZAKHSTAN 1,908 | ROMANIA 228 |
| BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA 47 | KOSOVO 413 | RUSSIA 5,505 |
| BULGARIA 161 | KYRGYZSTAN 2,846 | SERBIA 134 |
| CROATIA 12 | LATVIA 48 | SLOVAKIA 20 |
| CYPRUS 8 | LITHUANIA 91 | SLOVENIA 2 |
| CZECH REPUBLIC 19 | MALTA 8 | SPAIN 96 |
| DENMARK 12 | MOLDOVA 670 | SWEDEN 26 |
| Faroe Islands 1 | MONTENEGRO 28 | SWITZERLAND 27 |
| ESTONIA 17 | NETHERLANDS 19 | TAJIKISTAN 2,485 |
| FINLAND 14 | Aruba 4 | TURKEY 3,383 |
| FRANCE 209 | Curacao 1 | TURKMENISTAN 555 |
| GEORGIA 2,071 | Sint Maarten 3 | UKRAINE 3,808 |
| GERMANY 512 | NORTH MACEDONIA 258 | UZBEKISTAN 5,511 |
| NORTH AMERICA | ||
| BAHAMAS, THE 16 | ||
| OCEANIA | ||
| AUSTRALIA 461 | NAURU 3 | SAMOA 5 |
| Cocos Keeling Islands 3 | NEW ZEALAND 173 | TONGA 78 |
| FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA 4 | Cook Islands 6 | TUVALU 5 |
| FIJI 1,718 | PAPUA NEW GUINEA 21 | VANUATU 21 |
| KIRABATI 2 | REPUBLIC OF PALAU 3 | |
| SOUTH AMERICA | ||
| ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 3 | DOMINICA 4 | PERU 1,191 |
| ARGENTINA 133 | ECUADOR 466 | SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 2 |
| BELIZE 4 | GUATEMALA 84 | SAINT LUCIA 3 |
| BOLIVIA 46 | GUYANA 15 | SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 1 |
| CHILE 27 | NICARAGUA 77 | SURINAME 4 |
| COSTA RICA 39 | PANAMA 11 | TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 31 |
| CUBA 1,358 | PARAGUAY 9 | URUGUAY 7 |
Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2023: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
E. ESTABLISHMENT OF FAMILY SECOND A PREFERENCE FINAL ACTION DATE
Readers were advised in item G of the June 2022 Visa Bulletin that due to steady number use in the F2A category, a final action date might need to be established as early as August. Number use has remained steady and is estimated to reach 75% of the overall F2A category limit in August. Therefore, it has become necessary to establish a final action date to control further use of the 75% of F2A numbers exempt from per-country limits under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
F2A numbers exempt from per-country limits are available to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 22APR19. F2A numbers subject to per-country limits are available to applicants chargeable to all countries except Mexico with priority dates on or after 22APR19. All F2A numbers provided for Mexico are exempt from the per-country limit.
The situation will continually be monitored, and numbers exempt from the per-country limit are expected to once again be available for all applicants beginning October 1, 2022, under the FY-2023 annual numerical limitations.
F. FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON VISA PROCESSING AT U.S. EMBASSIES AND CONSULATES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, PLEASE VISIT THE BUREAU OF CONSULAR AFFAIRS WEBSITE AT TRAVEL.STATE.GOV
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