The number is a region and a position. The bulletin publishes the cut-off each month, and the two together say whether your case can be scheduled.
Reviewed by Ekaterina Fitenko, Esq. — Florida Bar #1064536. With 20+ years of experience in the legal field, she advises Diversity Visa selectees on adjustment of status and consular processing, in English and Russian.
A diversity case number has two meaningful parts: the region and the position within it. The region comes from your country of chargeability, not from where you live, and the position is your place in the order in which cases become eligible for scheduling.
Both matter, and they matter differently. The region determines the pool you are competing in; the position determines when inside the year you reach the front of it.
Each month the Visa Bulletin publishes cut-off numbers by region. A case whose number falls below the published cut-off for the month is current — it can be scheduled or, for someone in the United States, an immigrant visa is treated as immediately available for the purpose of filing to adjust status.
A case above the cut-off is not refused. It simply is not yet reachable, and the only thing that changes that is the next bulletin.
The annual supply is fixed at 55,000 under INA 201(e), distributed across regions, and consumed as visas are issued. Movement in any given month reflects how many cases ahead of you completed, were refused or never responded — which is why cut-offs advance quickly in some months and barely at all in others.
A high number in a heavily subscribed region can remain unreachable through the entire fiscal year. That is an ordinary outcome of the structure, not a sign that something went wrong with the case.
Being current is permission to proceed, not an entitlement to a visa. The eligibility ends with the fiscal year, and issuance stops with it. A case that becomes current in the final weeks has to complete everything inside those weeks, and the queue at that point is at its longest.
Practically: prepare the documents, the translations and the medical before your number is close, so that becoming current starts the last stage rather than the first.
Assemble the documentary package and have certified translations ready. Keep civil status accurate — a marriage or a birth changes who is on the case. If you are in the United States, establish now whether the adjustment route under INA 245(a) is open to you, because the answer determines what filing you will make the day your number becomes current.
It means your number is below the cut-off published for your region in that month's Visa Bulletin, so the case can be scheduled for an interview or, in the United States, an immigrant visa counts as immediately available for filing to adjust status.
There is no date in advance. Movement depends on how many cases ahead of you are completed or dropped, and cut-offs are published month by month for each region.
Yes. The annual supply is capped at 55,000 visas under INA 201(e), and a high number in a heavily subscribed region can remain beyond the cut-off until the fiscal year ends. Eligibility then ceases.
No, it follows your country of chargeability — normally your country of birth, or your spouse's or parent's country where you properly claim it. Residence and citizenship acquired later do not change it.
Nothing moves the cut-off for you, and any offer to do so is a fraud indicator. What you control is readiness: documents, translations and the medical prepared before the number is reached, so no week is lost once it is.
$200 for 30 minutes, in English or Russian. Call (305) 315-3425 or email fitenkolaw@gmail.com to schedule, or start with the intake form.
This article is informational only and is not legal advice. Immigration rules, fees and processing times change; confirm current requirements with the agency or with counsel before relying on anything here.
Fitenko Law PLLC, 11555 Heron Bay Blvd, Suite 277, Coral Springs, FL 33076 (main office); 600 Three Islands Blvd, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009 (by appointment only). Phone: (305) 315-3425. Email: fitenkolaw@gmail.com