Visa Cut- Off dates for March 2011 and the New Minimum Income Guidelines

Many of our listeners have been closely following the Immigrant Visa Cut-Off dates. The cut off dates rapidly improved during 2010, but then rapidly went backwards in January of this year. For example, the cut-off date for unmarried adult children of US citizens was April 2004 a year ago. At the end of last year, it had advanced to February 2006. However, in January this year it went backwards 12 months and has not advanced.

 The March 2011 cut off date for the spouse and children of permanent residents also went backwards one year. This category advanced more than 4 ½ years in 2010, but in January this year it went backwards, and next month it will again go backwards, to January 2007.

 Here are the Immigrant Visa Cut-off dates for March. The dates for all categories are the same as this month, except for the one year loss in the F2A category.

F1: a US citizen’s unmarried sons and daughters over 20 years old: 01 January 2005.

F2A: spouse and minor children of permanent residents: 01 January 2007

F2B: a permanent resident’s unmarried sons and daughters over 20 years old: 15 April 2003

F3: a US citizen’s married sons and daughters: 01 January 2001

F4: brothers and sisters of US citizens: 01 January 2000

Visa availability depends on 2 factors: How many visas are assigned to a country and how many people apply for a visa in each category. In 2010, there was an adequate number of visas available so the cut off dates moved forward rapidly. However, at the same time, there was a great demand for visas by qualified applicants. So, by the end of 2010, the number of available vises decreased and the waiting times increased.

The New Minimum Income Guidelines:  The Federal government has just published the new Minimum Income Guidelines for 2011. Because of the Recession, the Minimum Income levels of 2009 were continued for 2010. Thus, there was no increase in the minimum income level last year. This explains the rather sharp increase required for 2011.

The minimum income required for two persons just went up $175 compared to the 2009 level.

For 3 persons, it’s up $275, and for 4 persons it is raised by $1,200. By the time we reach a family of 8 persons, the minimum income level for 2011 goes up $5,350 to a required annual income of $47,000.

CIS has not updated the minimum incomes yet for 2011. You can find the new numbers at our RMI website Forum, or you can Google “Poverty Guidelines 2011”. Note that immigrant visa applicants must meet 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q.1. When will the new Poverty Guideline requirements go into effect?

A.1. The new poverty guideline minimums will be required for all visa applicants starting in April.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q.2. I am sponsoring my brother. His son will be 21 years old next month. The family was originally scheduled for an interview in January but now it looks like it may be late this year when they have the interview. Will my nephew still be eligible to accompany the family?

A.2. Your nephew will be eligible if he can qualify for the CSPA (Child Status Protection Act). In many cases, the length of time that CIS took to process the petition can be subtracted from the actual age of the over-20 children.