The Immigration system provides way for parsons to become permanent residents of the United States based on an offer of fulltime employment or based on close family relationships. For many immigrants however there can be a lengthy waiting period before them actually receiving immigrant Visa. Certain persons find they must wait for years before a visa is available for them.
The reason for the delay is that the number of persons who can get immigrant visas in the employment or family preference Categories is limited by law. In the employment categories or preferences 40000 immigrant visas in each of the first three categories can be issued in any fiscal year However “other workers” in the third category are limited to 10000 visas each fiscal year. Furthermore family and work immigrant visas from any country are limited to 7% of the total immigrant visas available in a fiscal year.
As a result of these limitations a waiting list has developed for many types of immigrant visas. This is because one can apply for a visa only when there is one immediately available. For example “other workers” from most countries can apply at this time (May 1992) for immigrant visas only if their labor certification was started in 1987 (i.c. have a “priority date” earlier than August 1987). Thus these applicants have waited nearly five years to get immigrant visas or in technical terms to become “current.” The waiting list is so long because the total world-wide number of visas in this category is only 10000 per fiscal year and demand is greater than this supply. Even longer wailing periods exist in some family preference categories.
Fortunately because so many more visas are allotted to the other employment categories there is at this time (May 1992) no waiting list for most countries However a waiting list could develop for India and Mexico in the future as more and more people are classified in the various employment categories.
Each month the Visa Office of the State Department revises its list of immigrant visa availability based on visa demand from its posts around the world. When demand for visas cannot be satisfied within the limits described above the Department will set a “cut-off date” within a visa category.
This means that the category is oversubscribed and only cases having priority dates earlier than the cut-off date can get a visa. Immigrant visa availability based on this system is published each month in the departments Visa Bulletin which is available to the public.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 12, 1992
