## Facts

- Congress amended the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1976 to apply a 20,000 annual per-country immigrant-visa limit to Western Hemisphere countries, including Mexico, effective during the second quarter of FY 1977.
- Before the amendments took effect, 14,203 immigrant visas had already been issued to Mexican nationals during the first quarter of FY 1977.
- The State Department applied the new 20,000 per-country cap as if it governed the entire FY 1977, counting those 14,203 already-issued visas against Mexico’s FY 1977 limit and treating only 5,797 numbers as remaining for the rest of the year.
- The State Department also processed certain “special immigrant” applicants in strict chronological order based on their “priority date” (tied to labor certification or proof of exemption).
- Imelda De Avilia and a certified class of Mexican visa applicants had priority dates that, under the Department’s ordering rules, would have made them eligible for consideration, but they did not receive visas in FY 1977 due to the Department’s treatment of the cap.
- The class sued federal officials, challenging (1) the retroactive fiscal-year charging of visas and (2) the priority-date processing policy as implemented.
- The district court held the retroactive charging unlawful and ordered prospective, prorated allocation for the remainder of FY 1977; it also ruled in part against the government on the special-immigrant processing issue.
- The government appealed the retroactivity ruling; plaintiffs cross-appealed for broader relief.

## Issues

1. Whether the State Department could apply the new 20,000 per-country limitation for Mexico to the entire FY 1977 by charging visas issued before the amendments’ effective date against that year’s cap.
2. Whether the State Department’s strict priority-date processing policy for special immigrants, as applied during the transition to the new cap, was consistent with the INA and could be used to deny otherwise available visas.

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit held the State Department could not retroactively charge against the new cap visas issued before the amendments became effective.
- The court affirmed the requirement that the cap be applied prospectively during the remainder of FY 1977, effectively requiring a prorated allocation for the partial year after the effective date.
- The court held that agency discretion to adopt priority-date processing rules is limited by the statute and cannot be exercised to defeat applicants’ statutory opportunity to receive visas within lawful numerical limits.
- The court largely affirmed the judgment for plaintiffs while clarifying the permissible scope of relief and administration during the transition period.

## Legal Principles

- Statutes and agency implementations are presumed to operate prospectively absent a clear congressional statement authorizing retroactive effect.
- An agency may not administratively impose retroactive consequences by counting previously issued benefits against a newly effective numerical limitation without statutory authorization.
- Agencies may create reasonable processing mechanisms (including priority-date systems) where Congress has not specified details, but such mechanisms must conform to the statutory scheme and may not nullify rights created by statute.
- Transitional administrative difficulties do not justify retroactive recharacterization of previously issued visas; lawful implementation must respect effective dates and authorized numerical limits.

## Conclusion

The Seventh Circuit rejected retroactive application of the INA’s new per-country cap to visas issued before the amendments took effect and required prospective, partial-year administration of the limit, while also restricting the State Department’s use of priority-date processing rules to ensure they did not defeat statutorily authorized visa availability.


De Avilia v. Civiletti, 643 F.2d 471 (7th Cir. 1981)