no exact former equivalent, but similar in many respects to the NP-5 category. no exact former equivalent but roughly similar to the OP1 category. (The ordinary minimum investment is set at $1 million, but MAY be LOWER in a rural or high unemployment area, and HIGHER in an area of high employment.) TRANSITION PROVISION FOR EMPLOYEES OF CERTAIN limit: 12,000 in each of FYs 1991 through 1993 only. TRANSITION FOR DISPLACED TIBETANS RESIDING IN limit: a total of 1,000 over FY's 1991 through 1993. DIVERSITY TRANSITION FOR NATIVES OF CERTAIN AD- limit: 40,000 in each of FYs 1992 through 1994, of which at visa eligibility requires a commitment for employment FY-1993 and FY-1994 applicants will be selected for there will be a separate registration for each year's a fee to cover the cost of case processing is required. limit: 55,000 annually, BEGINS FY 1995 only one petition for status may be submitted per registration period; applicants will be selected for status in random order; there will be a separate registration for each year's visas; COMPARISON OF THE FORMER SERIES OF IMMIGRANT VISA CATEGORIES AND THE REVISIONS MADE BY THE IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1990-Continued FORMER CATEGORIES Returning Residents and Certain Former U.S. Citizens.. (Special Immigrant classes SB and SC.) THE IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1990 visa eligibility requires that the applicant have either Returning Residents and Certain Former U.S. Citizens. These Special Immigrants remain outside numerical limits. COMMENTS ON THE IMMIGRANT CATEGORIES AND NUMERICAL LIMITATIONS UNDER THE TERMS OF THE IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1990 Effective Date: Unless otherwise noted, the revised immigrant categories and limitations under the 1990 Act are effective on October 1, 1991, the first day of Fiscal Year 1992. All applicants entitled to status in the former family-sponsored categories remain entitled to the equivalent status in the corresponding category under the revised scheme; no reapproval of petition is required in such cases. Under the terms of Section 4 of P.L. 102-110 (October 1, 1991), any petition filed before October 1, 1991, and approved on any date, in the FORMER THIRD and SIXTH preferences shall be deemed to accord status in the employment-based SECOND and THIRD preferences respectively. There is no need for reapproval of such petition, as long as the applicant applies for a visa within two years of the case priority date's being reached for visa issuance. Worldwide Immigrant Levels: A worldwide level is set for annual family-sponsored immigration: For FYs 1992 through 1994: 465,000; beginning FY 1995: 480,000 Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens remain exempt from numerical limit, but the annual family-sponsored PREFERENCE limit is determined by subtracting the immediate relative total of the PREVIOUS year from the worldwide immigrant level noted above. The Act sets a family preference MINIMUM limit at 226,000, however. The annual family preference limit cannot by law fall below 226,000. Any numbers by which a year's worldwide family-sponsored preference limit exceeds the 226,000 minimum are to be added to the SECOND preference. Further, unused first preference numbers will fall to second preference. (For FY 1992, second preference issuances are expected to total about 128,000-130,000, compared to about 110,000 during recent years.) SEVENTY-SEVEN PERCENT of total SECOND preference numbers are set aside for the SPOUSES AND CHILDREN of permanent residents, with the remaining TWENTY-THREE PERCENT for UNMARRIED SONS/DAUGHTERS (twenty-one years of age and older) of permanent residents. Seventy-five percent of the visas for spouses and children are to be issued without regard to the per-country limit, i.e., these numbers will go to the applicants with the earliest priority dates regardless of their country of chargeability. In the (new) FAMILY THIRD (former Fourth) preference, the worldwide annual limit is set at 23,400, compared to 27,000 under the previous law. The (new) FAMILY FOURTH (former Fifth) preference worldwide annual limit is set at 65,000, compared to the previous 64,800. The worldwide annual level for employment-based immigrants effective beginning in FY 1992: 140,000 This compares to the former third and sixth preference total limits of 54,000. Employment-based immigration will be substantially increased by the 1990 Act, there fore. Most Special Immigrants (EXCEPT for returning residents and certain former U.S. citizens [Special Immigrant classes SB and SC] who remain exempt from numerical limit) are placed under this limit effective in FY 1992, and require approval of petitions to become entitled to status. Separate numerical provisions are stipulated for the new classification for certain U.S. armed forces personnel. The employment-based categories are extensively revised, and a new Employment Creation (Investor) preference is established. Pre-Country Immigrant Limits: The foreign state per-country limit on PREFERENCE immigrants is set by the 1990 Act at 7% of the total annual family and employment-based preference limits. The MINIMUM worldwide family preference limitation is 226,000 and the employment-based annual limit is fixed at 140,000. These figures total 366,000, 7% of which is 25,620. The MINIMUM foreign state limit will be 25,620, therefore; this compares to the former 20,000 limit, which was 7.4% of the worldwide 270,000 preference limit. The dependent area annual preference limit is set at 2%, or a MINIMUM of 7,320; the former dependent area limit was 5,000. The annual limit for Hong Kong is set at 10,000 through Fiscal Year 1993, after which the 7% limit will apply to Hong Kong. |