• Family Immigration
  • Spouses
    • Removal of Conditions
    • K-3 Spouse Visas
  • Fiancé(e) Visas
  • Parents
  • Children
  • Sons & Daughters
  • Adjustment of Status
  • Work Permits
  • Travel Documents
  • Brief Visits
• Business Immigration
  • Permanent Employment
    • PERM Labor Certification
    • Immigrant Petitions
    • Multinational Managers
    • Religious Workers
    • Adjustment of Status
  • Work Visas
    • E Treaty Visas
    • H-1B Professionals
    • L-1 Intracompany Transferees
    • O-1 Extraordinary Ability
    • TN NAFTA Professionals
    • B-1 Business Visitors
• EB-1 & NIW
  • Extraordinary Ability
  • Outstanding Researcher
  • National Interest Waiver
• Study Programs
  • F-1 Student Visas
  • H-3 Trainee Programs
  • J-1 Exchange Programs
  • M-1 Vocational Visas
• Citizenship
  • Naturalization
  • Reentry Permits
  • Derived Citizenship
• Immigration Protection
  • Abuse Victims
  • Trafficking Victims
  • Affirmative Asylum
• Employment Verification
  • I-9 Compliance
  • E-Verify

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D.Ray Mantle, PLLC

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Lawyers Association

Visa Bulletin

The Bureau of Consular Affairs within the Department of State controls the allocation of immigrant visa numbers each month. Only individuals with a priority date earlier than the posted cut-off dates for that month are eligible to have their permanent residence applications approved.

September 2008 Bulletin

September 2008 Visa Bulletin

August 15, 2008

Employment-Based Priority Dates

The Employment Third preference cut-off dates are “unavailable” for both August and September, since those FY-2008 annual limits have been reached. The Visa Office had originally anticipated that this would be a temporary situation.  Then with the start of the new fiscal year in October the cut-off dates would have returned to those which had applied during June.  However, continued heavy demand in those categories may require the establishment of cut-off dates which are earlier than those which had applied in June.  A formal decision determination of the October cut-off dates will not be possible until early September.

Family-Based Priority Dates

The Mexico F2A preference cut-off dates are “unavailable” for both August and September, since those FY-2008 annual limits have been reached. The Visa Office had originally anticipated that this would be a temporary situation.  Then with the start of the new fiscal year in October the cut-off dates would have returned to those which had applied during June.  However, continued heavy demand in this category may require the establishment of cut-off dates which are earlier than those which had applied in June.  A formal decision determination of the October cut-off dates will not be possible until early September.

First:  Unmarried Sons and Daughters of 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, and any unused first preference numbers:

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

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

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

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

Fraudulant Diversity Visa Websites

There have been instances of fraudulent websites posing as official U.S. Government sites.  Some companies posing as the U.S. government have sought money in order to “complete” lottery entry forms. (To learn more readers may want to consult the Federal Trade Commission Warning on this type of issue.) Applicants selected in the Diversity Visa random drawing are notified by the Department of State, Kentucky Consular Center by letter, NOT e-mail and are provided instructions on how to proceed to the next step in the process.  No other organization or company is authorized by the Department of State to notify Diversity Visa lottery applicants of their winning entry.  All applicants selected to participate in the DV-2009 program have already been notified.