All F2B Updates in This Thread (Part 2)

[RR159 12]

Monthly report for November is out.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/immigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-immigrant-visa-issuances.html
 

F2B for DR is down: from 1286 in October to 375. Not sure if it’s a good sign or bad, since total F2B visas also reduced to 1158!! In October it was 2581.

[zaback21 29]

1 hour ago, RR159 said:

Monthly report for November is out.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-statistics/immigrant-visa-statistics/monthly-immigrant-visa-issuances.html
 

F2B for DR is down: from 1286 in October to 375. Not sure if it’s a good sign or bad, since total F2B visas also reduced to 1158!! In October it was 2581.

Bad sign. 

 

Given the backlog in Bangladesh, we have also had our visas issued slashed to half. 

If anything, we should be hitting 7%. We are barely hitting 3%. And now it's slashed to 1.5%.

 

We are still processing 2020 Documentarily Qualified people with 2024 in sight. 

I don't think any country in the world is still doing 2020. Most countries are now in 2022. It's outrageous how imbalanced the whole follow DQ date over PD date system NVC is following + lack of processing in certain countries and over the top processing in certain countries. If only we could get those DR numbers for a year. 

[xavier2014 21]

@RR159 @zaback21 Monthly visa issuances were overall above 45k+ in October and November. It seems they issued more visas to F2A and F4.

 

The good news is that they probably covered most of the current Priority Dates.

 

The bad news is that both F1 and F2B are not moving, most countries did not receive any F1 visas this month. This category needs to move drastically, and I don't know what NVC or the State Department are doing in this regard. Otherwise, visas would be wasted this year as well in these two categories

[RR159 12]

21 hours ago, xavier2014 said:

@RR159 @zaback21 Monthly visa issuances were overall above 45k+ in October and November. It seems they issued more visas to F2A and F4.

 

The good news is that they probably covered most of the current Priority Dates.

 

The bad news is that both F1 and F2B are not moving, most countries did not receive any F1 visas this month. This category needs to move drastically, and I don't know what NVC or the State Department are doing in this regard. Otherwise, visas would be wasted this year as well in these two categories

Philippines, DR and Jamaica did receive F1’s. In fact DR is halfway past their annual quota of 1638 F1’s for 2024 (@860 now).

 

Speaking of which, DR is already close to their annual limit of 1838 F2B’s for 2024 (@1661 now).

[Mundo254 49]

Its time we stop focusing on DR numbers. Most seem to suggest the numbers they are receiving are 'illegal', which I doubt is the case. Probably our math or understanding of the cap numbers is wrong. There are a miriad of reasons why things are sluggish, and we all know them. As one stated, these kinds of visas seldom exists for other countries, we are at their mercy, and it shows with the way they treat these FB visas. The law just needs to change for significant improvements to be seen. For now, Let's hope things ramp up soon.

[RR159 12]

22 hours ago, Mundo254 said:

Its time we stop focusing on DR numbers. Most seem to suggest the numbers they are receiving are 'illegal', which I doubt is the case. Probably our math or understanding of the cap numbers is wrong. There are a miriad of reasons why things are sluggish, and we all know them. As one stated, these kinds of visas seldom exists for other countries, we are at their mercy, and it shows with the way they treat these FB visas. The law just needs to change for significant improvements to be seen. For now, Let's hope things ramp up soon.

Nothing against DR.

 

Things are “sluggish” because we’re not focusing on the rules. As the visa bulletin states every month: “Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620”. This is subsequently spelled out more clearly here: https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/Web_Annual_Numerical_Limits_FY2024.pdf

 

In FY 2024, it could even be Philippines. Their PD cutoff dates are far behind other countries including DR. 

The point is, once these countries reach the threshold, other countries should be given a fair chance.

[Mundo254 49]

17 hours ago, RR159 said:

Nothing against DR.

 

Things are “sluggish” because we’re not focusing on the rules. As the visa bulletin states every month: “Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620”. This is subsequently spelled out more clearly here: https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Immigrant-Statistics/Web_Annual_Numerical_Limits_FY2024.pdf

 

In FY 2024, it could even be Philippines. Their PD cutoff dates are far behind other countries including DR. 

The point is, once these countries reach the threshold, other countries should be given a fair chance.

 

Well, I'm not an expert in interpreting law...but I'm inclined to believe that if any law is being broken here by the state, we would have been seeing a lot more uproar. That's why I feel there is something you are missing.

[Waiting4ever2 12]

3 minutes ago, Mundo254 said:

 

Well, I'm not an expert in interpreting law...but I'm inclined to believe that if any law is being broken here by the state, we would have been seeing a lot more uproar. That's why I feel there is something you are missing.

But if the DR cases are current (< October-2015) how can USCIS/NVC advance the priority date without covering their cases first, regardless of the limits?

[Mundo254 49]

4 minutes ago, GusHD said:

But if the DR cases are current (< October-2015) how can USCIS/NVC advance the priority date without covering their cases first, regardless of the limits?

Not sure what you mean but they can and have advanced dates before (last VB) irrespective of Current numbers in DR.

 

Nobody out here knows how and when they advance dates because specific Current and DQ numbers for specific countries/regions aren't provided. I guess it's an internal thing and how they advance dates is at their discretion. That's why we have Visa Bulletins after they are done with their internal processes 🤷

[xavier2014 21]

The DR issue would become clear after we see the 2023 reports, until then we can wonder what's going on there. Charlie Oppenheim used to handle the visa bulletin he retired at the end of 2021 I believe. After that, we never saw a big move in F2B. I don't know if there's any coincidence there, but according to him, the State Department, plus NVC, oversees the demand. If sufficient demand is not there, they would update the visa bulletin. So, there's a lot we do know. The problem is they might miscalculate demand otherwise they wouldn't miss 3-4k visas each year. Charlie is saying we should see frequent movement in F2B now. Let's see. They prioritize EB visas(they have big influence) over family-based visas. Last year it was 197k (they used it all) this year it would be 161k therefore more family-based visas should be processed

[Waiting4ever2 12]

On 12/27/2023 at 2:05 AM, xavier2014 said:

The DR issue would become clear after we see the 2023 reports, until then we can wonder what's going on there. Charlie Oppenheim used to handle the visa bulletin he retired at the end of 2021 I believe. After that, we never saw a big move in F2B. I don't know if there's any coincidence there, but according to him, the State Department, plus NVC, oversees the demand. If sufficient demand is not there, they would update the visa bulletin. So, there's a lot we do know. The problem is they might miscalculate demand otherwise they wouldn't miss 3-4k visas each year. Charlie is saying we should see frequent movement in F2B now. Let's see. They prioritize EB visas(they have big influence) over family-based visas. Last year it was 197k (they used it all) this year it would be 161k therefore more family-based visas should be processed

"Charlie is saying we should see frequent movement in F2B now" - thats nice, where did you read that?
 

[xavier2014 21]

3 hours ago, GusHD said:

"Charlie is saying we should see frequent movement in F2B now" - thats nice, where did you read that?
 

Check this out at 42 min. Most YouTube channels focus on EB visas because that's where the money is (nothing wrong). Charlie himself is now an adviser to this firm,I believe if he would still be there it should have moved more

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPnv-YrEIF8&t=2550s

 

[Waiting4ever2 12]

2 hours ago, xavier2014 said:

Check this out at 42 min. Most YouTube channels focus on EB visas because that's where the money is (nothing wrong). Charlie himself is now an adviser to this firm,I believe if he would still be there it should have moved more

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPnv-YrEIF8&t=2550s

 

Thanks, he's an expert so that's great news that he thinks it'll continue to advance monthly.

2024/Jan is almost here, so we'll know soon.

 

[RR159 12]

2 hours ago, xavier2014 said:

Check this out at 42 min. Most YouTube channels focus on EB visas because that's where the money is (nothing wrong). Charlie himself is now an adviser to this firm,I believe if he would still be there it should have moved more

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPnv-YrEIF8&t=2550s

 

Thanks for the perfect link, it starts at the right point in time.
“…focus on EB visas because that's where the money is (nothing wrong).” Yeah, money talks!

 

55k family visas in 2020 were not issued, instead they were donated to employment category in 2021.

135k family visas in 2021 were not issued, instead they were donated to employment categories in 2022.

57k family visas in 2022 were not issued, instead they were donated to employment categories in 2023.

Finally, 21k family visas in 2023 were not issued, instead they were donated to employment categories in 2024.

 

No immigration lawyers made any serious noise about returning these visas back to family categories. 

[xavier2014 21]

10 hours ago, RR159 said:

Thanks for the perfect link, it starts at the right point in time.
“…focus on EB visas because that's where the money is (nothing wrong).” Yeah, money talks!

 

55k family visas in 2020 were not issued, instead they were donated to employment category in 2021.

135k family visas in 2021 were not issued, instead they were donated to employment categories in 2022.

57k family visas in 2022 were not issued, instead they were donated to employment categories in 2023.

Finally, 21k family visas in 2023 were not issued, instead they were donated to employment categories in 2024.

 

No immigration lawyers made any serious noise about returning these visas back to family categories. 

These visas are lost forever, with no coming back(according to Charlie), leaving a huge backlog in the F category. There is a loophole or system called spillover (unused family visas, lol!) that can be used to supplement EB visas. Since EB has significant lobbying power, they usually get priorities instead of increased EB quotas.

 

@GusHD you are right 2024 very important, hopefully someone will ask Charlie a follow-up question regarding F2B visas in the coming months