As expected, the Department of State has just announced that there are no longer Visa Numbers still available in FY-2007 (October 1, 2006 - September 30, 2007). Apparently the DOS authorized 60,000 approvals in June 2007, which would truly be an unprecedented monthly number. Employment preference numbers will once again be available beginning October 1, 2007, under the FY-2008 annual numerical limitation. Any cases that were filed for a July 1 visa date will be returned. Any case that was filed per the June Visa Bulletin should have been accepted by the USCIS; however we are aware of many cases that have not yet received their receipt notices. It remains unclear what will happen to those cases.

Any overseas Consular Processing case will now not be acted on until October 1, provided that the October Visa Bulletin shows a priority date earlier than one's priority date. If you received a Visa Appointment date, we expect that the appointment will be revoked; but theoretically the DOS could have already accounted for those appointments. Therefore HLG strongly urges Beneficiaries to present to their appointment.

The DOS' press release can be found here: http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_3263.html