Allocations to Foreign Service posts outside the regular monthly cycle are possible in emergency
or exceptional cases, but only at the request of the office processing the case. Note that should
retrogression of a cut-off date be announced, VO can honor extraordinary requests for additional
numbers only if the applicant's priority date is earlier than the retrogressed cut-off date.
Not all numbers allocated are actually used for visa issuance; some are returned to VO and are
reincorporated into the pool of numbers available for later allocation during the fiscal year. The
rate of return of unused numbers may fluctuate from month to month, just as demand may
fluctuate. Lower returns mean fewer numbers available for subsequent reallocation. Fluctuations
can cause cut-off date movement to slow, stop, or even retrogress. Retrogression is particularly
possible near the end of the fiscal year as visa issuance approaches the annual limitations.