F4 Visa cap per nationality: help me understand it please

[stm 61]

Hi All, 

 

If someone have an idea how things work for F4 visa and limits by nationality. I am trying to understand it more to see if it's worth doing it in the future.  [No need to discuss eligibility , I know the details about that] 

 

I know the waiting time is so long but what about countries with few applicants for this F4 category every year. I also know there is ~7% cap per country if I am not mistaken.

 

===>is there a way to know the waiting time per nationality, something like below but includes  my homecoutry which is TUNISA? 

 

==>If let's say i apply now for F4 for Tunsian sibling today. and let's assume the 7% cap per country is not reached this year for Tunisia , does that mean my F4 application will get in the line right away in this year  for interview in embassy ? 

 

 

 

[SteveInBostonI130 3,434]

 

32 minutes ago, stm said:

===>is there a way to know the waiting time per nationality, something like below but includes  my homecoutry which is TUNISA? 

 

Tunisia is part of the "All Chageability Areas Except Those Listed" 

 

32 minutes ago, stm said:

==>If let's say i apply now for F4 for Tunsian sibling today. and let's assume the 7% cap per country is not reached this year for Tunisia , does that mean my F4 application will get in the line right away in this year  for interview in embassy ? 

 

That is not how it works.  They do not give a quota for each country.  There are X amount of family preference visas available to give out. The specific countries listed in the visa bulletin tend to overload the system if they gave the visas only to those nationals, so they subdivided the allotment into 5 groups.

 

 

32 minutes ago, stm said:

 

 

Per the above chart, F4 is current for Tunisians that applied in Aug 2006.

 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

There is an annual overall quota for F4, and they use priority dates to cut those off so Tunisia, falling under “all chargeability...”, uses those priority dates in the visa bulletin. There is no benefit or disadvantage within this group of being chargeable to any particular country. The countries with separate cutoffs as you note are because they hit the 7% annual cap, but that just means they have different priority dates in use - so a longer wait than everyone else - for those countries.

[aaron2020 11,651]

2 hours ago, stm said:

 

 

===>is there a way to know the waiting time per nationality, something like below but includes  my homecoutry which is TUNISA? 

The waiting time for Tunisa is included in the "All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed."  Tunisa doesn't come near the 7%, so that is why it's lumped in with all other countries.

 

The only countries where it's different are those already listed; China mainland, India, Mexico, and the Philippines.   These 4 countries are the only ones where it reaches the 7% limit, so they are the only ones that are different and usually have longer wait time to be eligible to apply for visas.  

 

 

==>If let's say i apply now for F4 for Tunsian sibling today. and let's assume the 7% cap per country is not reached this year for Tunisia , does that mean my F4 application will get in the line right away in this year  for interview in embassy ? 

No.  Not how it works.  You wait until your Priority Date becomes current in the F4 category of the "All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed" column in order to be eligible to apply for a visa.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by aaron2020