The United States Department of State (“DOS”) has published its monthly visa bulletin for April 2011. The April 2011 visa bulletin is available online here.

The April 2011 visa bulletin states that continued heavy applicant demand for numbers in the Family-Based First Preference (“F1″) category has required the retrogression of the Worldwide, China-mainland born, and India cut-off dates for the month of April. Further retrogressions cannot be ruled out should demand continue at the current levels for some categories and countries. The F1 category includes unmarried sons and daughters (i.e. 21 years of age and older) of United States citizens.

The DOS visa bulletin summarizes the availability of immigrant numbers each month. Consular officers report documentarily-qualified applicants for numerically limited visas. Similarly, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) reports applicants for adjustment of status.

Allocations are then made, to the extent possible under the numerical limitations, for the demand received in the chronological order of the reported priority dates. If the demand cannot be satisfied within the statutory or regulatory limits, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive is deemed oversubscribed.

The cut-off date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits. Only applicants who have a priority date earlier than the cut-off date may be allotted a number.