Visas and the queue
Per country limit
Also called 7 percent cap, country cap, per-country limit.
The 7 percent ceiling, in 8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2), on the family and employment preference immigrant visas that natives of any single foreign state may receive in a fiscal year. It is measured against the family and employment preference totals combined rather than against each category separately, and dependent areas get 2 percent.
What it decides
The cap sits in 8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2), not 1153. It limits "the total number of immigrant visas made available to natives of any single foreign state or dependent area under subsections (a) and (b) of section 1153 of this title in any fiscal year" to "7 percent (in the case of a single foreign state) or 2 percent (in the case of a dependent area)" of the total made available under those subsections. Two consequences follow from that wording. It measures the family and employment preference totals together rather than capping each category on its own, which USCIS states in the same terms in its employment based adjustment of status FAQ. And it counts only visas issued under subsections (a) and (b) of 1153, so visas granted outside those two subsections are never charged against it. Hitting the ceiling does not leave fifth preference uncapped for that country. Under 8 U.S.C. 1152(e)(3), once a country's combined demand will exceed the 1152(a)(2) level, its allotment is allocated across paragraphs (1) through (5) of 1153(b) in the proportion each of those categories bears worldwide, and USCIS confirms that per country limits then operate inside each category. This is why oversubscribed countries carry their own fifth preference final action dates even though the 7 percent figure itself is computed on the combined total. The ceiling gives way in one direction. Under 8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(5)(A), added by Pub. L. 106-313, section 104(a), 17 October 2000, if the visas available under any one of paragraphs (1) through (5) of 1153(b) for a calendar quarter exceed the number of qualified immigrants who may otherwise be issued them, the visas under that paragraph issue without regard to the per country limit for the remainder of that quarter. The waiver is per paragraph and per quarter, so it reaches fifth preference, which is paragraph (5), only when fifth preference itself is the category running short. USCIS notes it can apply in any quarter, not only the fourth. The limit runs against the foreign state to which an applicant is chargeable, fixed by place of birth under 8 U.S.C. 1152(b). That subsection also permits charging to a spouse's foreign state where this prevents separating a married couple and the spouse's state has not reached its own limit for the fiscal year.
Where this is explained properly
Pages here that go into per country limit rather than mentioning it.
Related terms
- Country of chargeabilityCountry of chargeability is the foreign state against whose per country visa ceiling an applicant is counted, set by place of birth rather than by citizenship, passport or current residence, subject to four narrow exceptions.
- Cross-chargeabilityCross-chargeability is the rule that charges an applicant's immigrant visa to a spouse's or a parent's country of birth instead of their own, so that a family facing different per-country queues is not separated.
- BacklogBacklog is the demand already waiting ahead of an investor in the same visa category, the same country of chargeability and, since the 2022 set-asides, the same reserved or unreserved pool, which must be worked through before a visa number reaches them.
Checked against primary sources on . Back to the glossary