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Category: Diaspora News

Written by Charles Kuck

In October, the Department of State asked the National Visa Center (NVC) at Portsmouth, New
Hampshire to report the totals of applicants on the waiting list in the various numerically-limited
immigrant categories. Applications for adjustment of status under INA 245 which are pending at
CIS Offices are not included in the tabulation of the immigrant waiting list data which is being
provided at this time. As such, the following figures ONLY reflect petitions which the
Department of State has received, and do not include the significant number of applications held
with the CIS Offices.
The following figures have been compiled from the NVC report submitted to the Department on
November 1, 2011, and show the number of immigrant visa applicants on the waiting list in the
various preferences and subcategories subject to numerical limit. All figures reflect persons
registered under each respective numerical limitation, i.e., the totals represent not only principal
applicants or petition beneficiaries, but their spouses and children entitled to derivative status
under INA 203(d) as well. Family-sponsored Preferences

Category FY 2011 FY 2012 (and % of change)
FAMILY FIRST 271,018 295,168 + 24,150 (+ 8.9%)
FAMILY SECOND TOTAL 913,611 839,755 -73,856 (- 8.1%)
2A-Spouses/Children: 361,038 322,636 - 38,402 (-10.6%)
2B- Adult Sons/Daughters: 552,573 517,119 - 35,454 (- 6.4%)
FAMILY THIRD 853,083 846,520 -6,563 (- 0.8%)
FAMILY FOURTH 2,515,062 2,519,623 +4,561 (+ 0.2%)
TOTAL 4,552,774 4,501,066 -51,708 (- 1.1%)

Employment-based Preferences

From 2011 Totals
Category FY 2011 FY 2012 (and % of change)
EMPLOYMENT FIRST 2,961 2,118 -843 (- 28.5%)
EMPLOYMENT SECOND 6,738 6,888 +150 (+ 2.2%)
EMPLOYMENT THIRD TOTAL 119,183 112,023 -7,160 (- 6.0%)
Skilled Workers: 102,395 97,060 -5,335 (- 5.2%)
Other Workers: 16,788 14,963 -1,825 (- 10.9%)
EMPLOYMENT FOURTH TOTAL 554 498 -56 (- 10.1%)
EMPLOYMENT FIFTH TOTAL 1,183 1,806 +623 (+52.7%)
TOTAL 130,619 123,333 -7,286 (- 5.6%)
GRAND TOTAL 4,683,393 4,624,399 -58,994 (- 1.3%)

Immigrant Waiting List By Country
Immigrant visa issuances during fiscal year 2012 are limited by the terms of INA 201 to no more
than 226,000 in the family-sponsored preferences and approximately 144,000 in the
employment-based preferences. (Visas for "Immediate Relatives" - i.e., spouses, unmarried
children under the age of 21 years, and parents - of U.S. citizens are not subject to numerical
limitation, however.)
It should by no means be assumed that once an applicant is registered, the case is then
continually included in the waiting list totals unless and until a visa is issued. The consular
procedures mandate a regular culling of visa cases to remove from the count those unlikely to see
further action, so that totals are not unreasonably inflated. If, for example, a consular post
receives no response within one year from an applicant to whom the visa application instruction
letter (i.e., the consular "Packet 3" letter) is sent when the movement of the visa availability cutoff date indicates a visa may become available within a reasonable time frame, the case is
considered "inactive" under the consular procedures and is no longer included in waiting list
totals.
The fourteen countries with the highest number of waiting list registrants in FY 2012 are listed
below; together these represent 79.5% of the total. This list includes all countries with at least
60,000 persons on the waiting list. The per-country limit in INA 202 sets an annual maximum on
the amount of preference visas which may be issued to applicants from any one country; the
2012 per-country limit will be approximately 25,900.
Country Applicants
Mexico 1,374,294
Philippines 503,266
India 343,401
Vietnam 281,439
China-mainland born 248,494
Dominican Republic 171,217
Bangladesh 161,769
Pakistan 118,985
Haiti 112,450
Cuba 85,908
El Salvador 83,221
Jamaica 66,016
Korea, South 64,020
Colombia 61,430
All Others 948,489
Worldwide Total 4,624,399

Cases are being added to the waiting list in this category not only by the approval of new FIRST
preference petitions, but also through automatic conversion of pending 2B cases into FIRST
preference upon the naturalization of the petitioner.
Given the 517,119 Family 2B waiting list and the several years' interval between 2B petition
filing and visa issuance, it is likely that increasing numbers of petitioners will be naturalized and
the petitions converted to Family FIRST preference long before 2B visas become available. The
prospect is for increasing oversubscription in the FIRST preference, with slower advances in the
worldwide cut-off date the consequence. Only two countries, Mexico and the Philippines, have
FIRST preference cut-off dates which are earlier than the worldwide date.Family SECOND Preference:
The total Family SECOND preference waiting list figure is 839,755. Of these, 322,636 (38.4%)
are spouses and children of permanent residents of the United States (the 2A class), and 517,119
(61.6%) are adult unmarried sons/daughters of permanent residents (the 2B class). The Family
SECOND preference represents 18.7% of the total Family preference waiting list. It will receive
114,200 visa numbers for FY 2012, just over half of the 226,000 family preference total; 77% of
SECOND preference numbers are provided to 2A applicants, while the remaining 23% go to the
2B class.
2A: About 88,000 visa numbers are expected to be available during FY 2012. The top five
countries with the highest 2A waiting list totals are:

Mexico 138,628 43.0% 

Dominican Republic 30,963 9.6%
Cuba 16,084 5.0%
Haiti 15,804 4.9%
Philippines 14,598 4.5%
All Others 106,559 33.0%
Total 322,636 100%

Upon naturalization of the petitioner, a pending 2A case is converted automatically into the
"Immediate Relative" visa category, which is not subject to numerical limit and therefore
has no visa waiting period. As a result, the amount of cases being processed in the
"Immediate Relative" category may increase and partially offset new F2A filings.2B: Visa numbers for this class of adult sons and daughters will be approximately 26,250 during
FY 2012. The waiting list far exceeds the annual limit. The top ten countries with the highest 2B

Mexico 212,621 41.1%
Dominican Republic 57,385 11.1%
Philippines 52,823 10.2%
Haiti 25,851 5.0%
El Salvador 17,370 3.4%
China-mainland born 17,170 3.3%
Cuba 14,035 2.7%
Vietnam 9,442 1.8%
Jamaica 8,223 1.6%
Guatemala 7,610 1.5%
All Others 94,589 18.3%
Total 517,119 100%
As noted above, some of the 2B cases are applicants converted from the 2A class upon their
turning 21.

Family THIRD Preference:
The annual visa limit is 23,400. Two oversubscribed countries (Mexico and Philippines) have
sufficiently heavy demand in this preference to require a cut-off date substantially earlier than
the worldwide date. The top ten countries with the highest F3 waiting list totals are:

Mexico 180,982 21.4%
Philippines 156,107 18.4%
Vietnam 77,653 9.2%
India 66,569 7.9%
China-mainland born 33,049 3.9%
Cuba 21,239 2.5%
Pakistan 16,896 2.0%
Poland 16,021 1.9%
Dominican Republic 15,204 1.8%
Jamaica 15,072 1.8%
All Others 247,728 29.2%
Total 846,520 100%

Family FOURTH Preference:
Applicants registered in the Family FOURTH preference total 2,519,623. Annual visa issuances
are limited to 65,000. 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 countries
listed below have the largest number of FOURTH preference applicants:

Mexico 746,815 29.6%
India 237,445 9.4%
Philippines 205,342 8.2%
Vietnam 179,648 7.1%
China-mainland born 175,417 7.0%
Bangladesh 149,526 5.9%
Pakistan 92,458 3.7%
Dominican Republic 47,356 1.9%
Haiti 43,441 1.7%
South Korea 38,385 1.5%
All Others 603,790 24.0%
Total 2,519,623 100%
The steadily growing waiting period in this preference is now more than eleven years for
countries of most favorable visa availability and even longer for some oversubscribed countries.EMPLOYMENT-

BASED PREFERENCES
It is important to note that over eighty-five percent of all Employment preference immigrants are
currently being processed as adjustment of status cases at CIS offices. Cases pending with CIS
are not counted in the consular waiting list tally which is presented below. Therefore, in several
Employment categories the waiting list totals being provided below understate real immigrant
demand. The Employment waiting list counts not only prospective workers, but also their
spouses and children entitled under the law to derivative preference status.
Employment FIRST Preference:

China-mainland born 268 12.7%
Canada 232 11.0%
Great Britain & Northern Ireland 222 10.5%
India 164 7.7%
Venezuela 107 5.0%
Korea, South 106 5.0%
Japan 80 3.8%
Mexico 57 2.7%
Philippines 57 2.7%
France 52 2.4%
All Others 773 36.5%
Worldwide Total 2,118 100%
Visa availability is "current" for all countries.

Employment SECOND Preference:

India 3,705   53.8%
China-mainland born 1,053   15.3%
Korea, South 379    5.5%
Philippines 292   4.2%
Canada 161   2.3%
All Others 1,298   18.9%
Worldwide Total 6,888   100%

This category is "current" at present for all but two countries.

Employment THIRD Preference:

Philippines 42,872   44.2%
India 21,119   21.8%
China-mainland born 6,191   6.4%
Korea, South 2,955    3.0%
Mexico 2,271   2.3%
All Others 21,652   22.3%
Worldwide Total 97,060   100%

Employment Third “Other Workers”:
Top Countries are:  Employment Third
 
China-mainland born 4,718   
Korea, South 3,051 20.4%
Mexico 2,277 15.2%
Philippines 1,615 10.8%
India 605 4.1%
All Others 2,697 18.0%
Worldwide Total 14,963 100%

With visa demand well in excess of the Employment Third Preference annual limits, a significant
wait for a visa must be expected to continue for the indefinite future. Employment FOURTH Preference:
Top countries are:

India 107 21.5%
Korea, South 32 6.5%
Philippines 27 5.4%
Nigeria 26 5.2%
Colombia 25 5.0%
Israel 21 4.2%
All Others 260 52.2%
Worldwide Total 498 100%
Visa availability is "current" for all countries.

Employment FIFTH Preference:
Top countries are:

China-mainland born 1,157 64.1%
Korea, South 182 10.1%
Venezuela 58 3.2%
Iran 49 2.7%
China-Taiwan born 43 2.4%
India 31 1.7%
All Others 286 15.8%
Worldwide Total 1,806 100%

Visa availability is "current" for all countries. Family

Immigrant Waiting List By Country

The seven countries with the highest number of Family-sponsored waiting list registrants are
listed below; together these represent 66.5% of the total. This list includes all countries with at
least 150,000 persons on the waiting list. (The per-country limit in INA 202 sets an annual
maximum on the amount of Family preference visas which may be issued to applicants from any
one country; the FY 2012 per-country limit will be 15,820.)

Mexico 1,369,592
Philippines 458,399
India 317,670
Vietnam 281,221
China-mainland born 235,106
Dominican Republic 171,138
Bangladesh 161,567
All Others 1,506,373
Worldwide Total 4,501,066

Family Immigrant Waiting List By Region
A breakdown of the NVC waiting list by region is:
Region Total
Africa 122,725
Asia 1,915,772
Europe 160,899
N. America* 2,034,395
Oceania 12,046
S. America 255,229
Family Total 4,501,066
*North America includes Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Employment
Immigrant Waiting List

By Country
The five countries with the highest number of Employment-based waiting list registrants are
listed below; together these represent 77.3% of the total. This list includes all countries with at
least 4,500 persons on the waiting list. (The per-country limit in INA 202 sets an annual
maximum on the amount of Employment preference visas which may be issued to applicants
from any one country; the FY 2012 per-country limit will be approximately 10,080.)
Employment Preferences
Country Total
Philippines 44,867
India 25,731
China-mainland born 13,388
Korea, South 6,705
Mexico 4,702
All Others 27,940
Worldwide Total 123,333

Employment Immigrant Waiting List By Region
A breakdown of the NVC waiting list by region is:
Region Total
Africa 2,813
Asia 100,432
Europe 6,441
N. America* 9,007
Oceania 305
S. America 4,335
Family Total 123,333
*North America includes Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean