January 2023

Section 203(c) of the INA provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas each fiscal year to permit additional immigration opportunities for persons from countries with low admissions during the previous five years. The NACARA stipulates that beginning with DV-99, and for as long as necessary, up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually allocated diversity visas will be made available for use under the NACARA program. This will result in reduction of the DV-2023 annual limit to approximately 54,850. DV visas are divided among six geographic regions. No one country can receive more than seven percent of the available diversity visas in any one year.

January 2023

For January, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2023 applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries as follows. When an allocation cut-off number is shown, visas are available only for applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers BELOW the specified allocation cut-off number:

Entitlement to immigrant status in the DV category lasts only through the end of the fiscal (visa) year for which the applicant is selected in the lottery. The year of entitlement for all applicants registered for the DV-2023 program ends as of September 30, 2023. DV visas may not be issued to DV-2023 applicants after that date. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2023 principals are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2023. DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2023 cannot be taken for granted. Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30.

For February, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2023 applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries as follows. When an allocation cut-off number is shown, visas are available only for applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers BELOW the specified allocation cut-off number:

As readers were warned may happen in Item E of the December 2022 Visa Bulletin, it has become necessary to establish Employment First Preference final action and application filing dates for China and India, effective in January, to hold number use within the maximum allowed under the FY-2023 annual limit. Applicants from China and India are subject to a final action date of 01FEB22 and an application filing date of 01JUN22. This situation will be continually monitored, and any necessary adjustments will be made accordingly.

As a reminder, Windows 8.1 has reached end of support on January 10, 2023. At this point technical assistance and software updates will no longer be provided. If you have devices running Windows 8.1, we recommend upgrading them to a more current, in-service, and supported Windows release. If devices do not meet the technical requirements to run a more current release of Windows, we recommend that you replace the device with one that supports Windows 11.

No. Support for Windows 8.1 is discontinued, but the software will continue to function. However, after January 10, 2023, your computer running Windows 8.1 will no longer receive security updates. In addition, Microsoft customer service will no longer be available to provide Windows 8.1 technical support.

Microsoft Edge version 109 (scheduled for release the week of January 12th, 2023) will be the last supported version of the browser on Windows 8.1. To learn more, see Microsoft Edge and WebView2 ending support for Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1.

You can continue to use installed apps and games on a Windows 8.1 PC after January 10, 2023. You will not be able to make any new app purchases or any in-app purchases after January 10, 2023. Installed apps and games will receive publisher updates through June 30, 2023 (or later if support is provided independently by the developer). After updates are no longer available, app quality and usability may be degraded. Customers who move to a Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC can use and reinstall previously purchased apps and games on their new or upgraded PC.

This Critical Patch Update contains 327 new security patches across the product families listed below. Please note that an MOS note summarizing the content of this Critical Patch Update and other Oracle Software Security Assurance activities is located at January 2023 Critical Patch Update: Executive Summary and Analysis.

Oracle E-Business Suite products include Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware components that are affected by the vulnerabilities listed in the Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware sections. The exposure of Oracle E-Business Suite products is dependent on the Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware versions being used. Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware security updates are not listed in the Oracle E-Business Suite risk matrix. However, since vulnerabilities affecting Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware versions may affect Oracle E-Business Suite products, Oracle recommends that customers apply the January 2023 Critical Patch Update to the Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware components of Oracle E-Business Suite. For information on what patches need to be applied to your environments, refer to Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Critical Patch Update Knowledge Document (January 2023), My Oracle Support Note 2484000.1.

Oracle Enterprise Manager products include Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware components that are affected by the vulnerabilities listed in the Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware sections. The exposure of Oracle Enterprise Manager products is dependent on the Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware versions being used. Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware security updates are not listed in the Oracle Enterprise Manager risk matrix. However, since vulnerabilities affecting Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware versions may affect Oracle Enterprise Manager products, Oracle recommends that customers apply the January 2023 Critical Patch Update to the Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware components of Enterprise Manager. For information on what patches need to be applied to your environments, refer to Critical Patch Update January 2023 Patch Availability Document for Oracle Products, My Oracle Support Note 2906900.1.

U.S. Border Patrol encounters of individuals who entered the country between Ports of Entry at the southwest border in January 2023 totaled 128,410, down 42% from 221,675 in December 2022. This is the lowest month of Border Patrol encounters since February 2021 when encounters began to increase after the most severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on migration.

CBP total encounters in January 2023 were 156,274, down nearly 40% from 251,978 in December 2022. This total includes Border Patrol encounters and noncitizens processed at Ports of Entry including individuals who sought an exception to Title 42 based on certain vulnerabilities and scheduled an appointment to present in advance via the CBP One Application.

The significant decrease in Border Patrol encounters, well beyond that which is expected based on seasonal trends, is indicative of the success of the measures announced by the Administration on January 5, 2023 expanding safe and orderly lawful processes for migration while applying consequences to those who do not avail themselves of those processes.

In January 2023 alone, CBP processed more than 2.6 million entry summaries valued at more than $265 billion, identifying estimated duties of nearly $7.3 billion to be collected by the U.S. government. In January, trade via the ocean environment accounted for more than 44.15 percent of the total import value, followed by air, truck, and rail.

Coinciding with the release of the January 2023 Global Climate Report, the NOAA Global Surface Temperature (NOAAGlobalTemp) dataset version 5.1.0 replaced version 5.0.0. This new version includes complete global coverage and an extension of the data record back in time an additional 30 years to January 1850. While anomalies and ranks might differ slightly from what was reported previously, the main conclusions regarding global climate change are very similar to the previous version. Please see our Commonly Asked Questions Document and web story for additional information.

NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information calculates the global temperature anomaly every month based on preliminary data generated from authoritative datasets of temperature observations from around the globe. The major dataset, NOAAGlobalTemp version 5.1.0 , updated in 2023, uses comprehensive data collections of increased global area coverage over both land and ocean surfaces. NOAAGlobalTempv5.1.0 is a reconstructed dataset, meaning that the entire period of record is recalculated each month with new data. Based on those new calculations, the new historical data can bring about updates to previously reported values. These factors, together, mean that calculations from the past may be superseded by the most recent data and can affect the numbers reported in the monthly climate reports. The most current reconstruction analysis is always considered the most representative and precise of the climate system, and it is publicly available through Climate at a Glance.

January 2023 was the seventh-warmest January for the globe in NOAA's 174-year record. The January global surface temperature was 1.57F (0.87C) above the 20th-century average of 53.6F (12.0C). January 2023 marked the 47th consecutive January and the 527th consecutive month with global temperatures, at least nominally, above the 20th-century average.

January 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere ranked fifth warmest on record at 1.28C (2.30F) above average. Northern Hemisphere ocean temperatures ranked third warmest (tied with 2022) for January, while land-only temperatures ranked sixth warmest. Following a similar pattern, ocean temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere ranked eighth warmest on record, while land-only temperatures in the southern hemisphere were 0.03C (0.05F) cooler than average. Combined, the Southern Hemisphere surface temperature this month ranked 22nd warmest on record (tied with 1977 and 2011). 041b061a72