Annual Report of Immigrant Visa Applicants Registered at the National Visa Center as of November 1, 2011

Future of F3 and F4 visas and well thougth Senate Bill S.744

There have been a lot of rumors and a lot of worrying about the future of F3 and F4 visas. The Senate’s new Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) bill S.744 aims at encouraging employment based immigration, so the F3 and F4 visa categories will see some big changes.

Processing applications of Widows and Widowers of Deceased U.S. Citizens

The new law benefits widows who were married to a U.S. citizen who is now deceased and who was a U.S. citizen at the time of death.

Main Points of the Proposed Senate Immigration Bill

The Senate bill shows a shift in the immigration system. Up to now, immigration laws have focused on family ties. The new Senate CIR will focus more on immigrants’ skills and employment potential.

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Annual Report of Immigrant Visa Applicants Registered at the National Visa Center as of November 1, 2011

(12/21/2011 10:37 AM) (Viewed: 39041)

The petitions of visa applicants who will be processed at a US Consulate are forwarded by CIS to the Department of State’s National Visa Center (NVC).   Applicants in categories that have a numerical limit are registered on the visa waiting list. Each case is assigned a priority date based on the filing date accorded to the petition.   Visa issuance is possible only if the applicant's priority date is within the cut-off dates which are published each month by the Department of State in the Visa Bulletin.

226,000 immigrant visas are available each year. There is also a per-country limit on preference immigrants. This limit places a maximum on the amount of visas which may be issued in a single year to applicants from any one country.    The 2012 per-country limit will be approximately 25,900.

This report shows only the number of petitions which the NVC has received. It does not include the large number of petitions that are waiting for processing at the CIS Offices.

Worldwide, there are 4.5 million applicants waiting for their petitions to become current.   Compare that number to the 226,000 visas available each year.

Here are the numbers of applicants waiting for visa processing throughout the world:

·         FAMILY FIRST (Adult, single children of US citizens):     290,000
·         2A-Spouses/Children of Permanent Residents:                     360,000
·         2B- Adult Sons/Daughters of Permanent Residents, unmarried: 550,000
·         FAMILY THIRD (Married children of US citizens):                        850,000
·         FAMILY FOURTH (Sisters and Brothers of US citizens):   2,500,000

In the Immigrant Visa waiting list of all the countries, Vietnam comes in third with 280,000 applicants waiting for their petitions to become current.   Only Mexico, the Philippines and India have more waiting applicants than Vietnam.

Vietnam is seventh among the countries with the highest F1 waiting list.   Visa numbers for unmarried adult sons and daughters will be approximately 26,250 during FY 2012.   The waiting list far exceeds the annual limit. In Vietnam, there are about 9,500 F1 applicants waiting for an interview.

The annual visa limit worldwide for the married sons and daughters of US citizens is 23,400. Vietnam is third among the top ten waiting list for F3 visas, with over 77,000 applicants waiting their turn for visa interviews.   Only Mexico and the Philippines have more F3 waiting applicants than Vietnam.

Siblings of US citizens are in the F4 category.    There are 2.5 million siblings and their families waiting for visas worldwide, but only 65,000 F4 visas are available each year.    The waiting period for the Family FOURTH preference is longer than any other category because the demand severely exceeds the number of available visas. The growing waiting period in this preference is now more than eleven years for most countries and as much as 15 or 20 years for countries like the Philippines or India.

Vietnam is in fourth place of the F4 waiting list countries, with 180,000 applicants waiting for visa processing.

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Q.1. Is there any way that the US Consulate can issue an immigrant visa before the petition becomes current (eligible for visa processing) ?

A.1. No. Immigrant Visas can never be issued before the petition becomes current. If a person needs to go to the US for medical treatment, then the Humanitarian Visa application would be the correct form to apply with.
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Q2. Are there any options for children who will lose eligibility because they reach 21 years of age before visa processing?

A.2. Right now the only option is the CSPA (Child Status Protection Act). This allows the CIS processing time of a petition to be deducted from the child’s real age at the time when the petition becomes current.

ROBERT MULLINS INTERNATIONAL     www.rmiodp.com
Immigration Support Services-Tham Van Di Tru

9070 Bolsa Avenue,   Westminster CA 92683           (714) 890-9933
779 Story Road, Ste. 70, San Jose, CA 95122           (408) 294-3888
6930 65th St. Ste. #105, Sacramento CA 95823        (916) 393-3388
42 Dang Thi Nhu, P. Nguyen Thai Binh, Q1, HCM       (848) 3914-7638

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As of 01 November, all immigrant visa and Fiancé(e) visa applicants arerequired to present a Justice Record Check #2 (also known as Police Certificate #2) instead of Justice Record Check #1 as part of the immigrant visa application.

On 30 November, the US House of Representatives approved the STEM Bill. The name for the bill comes from Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM degree). The bill was sponsored by Republican members of the House.

The US government is hoping to find native speakers of 44 foreign languages and also people who are highly qualified in the medical, dental and psychological treatment areas. Vietnamese is not one of the languages on the list for this program, but a Vietnamese applicant who speaks one of the included languages could apply.

One of our clients recently described part of the Green Card application process as a “Roller Coaster Interview”. There is no doubt that an interview with a CIS officer is extremely stressful for everyone, including couples who have a genuine relationship and who have nothing to hide. Even the most honest couples might misunderstand the officer’s question or suffer a momentary lapse of memory, causing them to give an unacceptable or incorrect answer.

If you and your wife are confused about this when you have an interview with CIS, it could mean CIS will say you are in a sham marriage.

CIS still does not know when the I-601A will take effect. All they say is “Maybe by the end of this year”.

Immigration reform in the US means producing a solution that will satisfy the Hispanic voters in America. And that means finding a way to legalize the presence of Eleven Million illegal aliens.

We have already reported on the very helpful 9th Circuit Court ruling for children left behind in Vietnam because they could not qualify for the CSPA (Child Status Protection Act). This ruling affects F2-B sponsors who live in California and some other western states.

As of the end of September, USCIS had received 100,000 applications for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). More than 63,000 of the applications are in the final stages of review, but so far CIS has confirmed only 29 approvals.

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