For May,2018
Region All DV Chargeability Areas Except
Those Listed Separately

AFRICA 24,800 Except:
Egypt: 16,400
Ethiopia: 23,600

ASIA 6,425 Except:
Nepal: 5,300

EUROPE 18,050

OCEANIA 1,025

SOUTH AMERICA,
and the CARIBBEAN 1,100

 

The “April” bulletin has been released. It includes details of case numbers that are current for May interviews. There are four months remaining after this bulletin to be scheduled.

I am very disappointed at the EU number. I was hoping KCC would get through the density plateau (which they have) AND add another 1000 or so (which they haven’t). What that probably means is that the decrease in interview capacity we saw last month is not just a single anomaly, but probably indicative of the ongoing capacity. That is sure to make EU high case numbers nervous – with good reason.

The other regions are progressing more or less according to expectation.

Those that are current, and have forms processed early enough, they can expect their 2NL in about 1 to 2  weeks from now. I know I am going to get a lot of people who will ask me this exact question – so let me say that again. 2NLs will be sent in about one or two weeks time – that means the latter part of the month. The schedule is that VBs are published between the 8th and the 15th of each month, and 2NLs go out from the 15th to the end of the month (most typically around the 20th to 24th). This is the same every month, so there is no need to ask me.

To those new to looking at VBs, let me explain what the “except” XXX country means.

Processing is spread out over the full year. You can see the progress of the two previous years in this post about basic questions.  However, some countries have a high number of selectees and those selectees are concentrated in the lower case numbers. For various reasons, mainly to do with embassy capacity, KCC slow down certain countries as compared to the region. So – in Africa, any case with a case number shown as under the new number can be interviewed but for cases from Egypt, that number is lower. That isn’t a big problem, it just “slows down” those countries a little more than the rest of the region. Since selectees from those countries all have lower case numbers, this slowing down does not present any risk. It does not (at this point) mean they won’t allow all selectees an interview from those countries.

To understand why some countries get lower case numbers, read this article about the lottery draw process.

Read this link if you are unsure how to read the visa bulletin