In September, there will be a retrogression of cut-off dates in the family preference visa categories for Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens (F-1) and Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens (F-4). Accordingly, in September, all F-1 petitions filed on or after May 1, 2010 and all F-4 petitions filed on or after January 1, 2002 will be considered non-current; a visa cannot be issued for these cases until the priority date becomes current again.
If you have been scheduled an interview in August, please DO NOT try to reschedule your interview to a later month unless you are sure that the petition filed on your behalf will still be current that month. Please note that it is not possible to predict when an immigrant visa number will become available again, and there is no provision within the law that would allow the Department of State to waive the numerical limitation and process a case before a priority date is reached. You may keep abreast of changes in immigrant visa number availability by visiting our website.
In addition, applicants with an immigrant visa interview appointment in August should prepare all required documents and have them ready for their interview to make sure they can be issued a visa in August.
