The following , an cecerpt from CIS field manual, will tell us when an immigrant visa is ordered. This fact will determines whether an I-485 can be approved when PD is not current.
(5) Procedure for Ordering a Visa Number from the Department of State. Visa numbers are requested by USCIS offices directly from the Visa Control Office of the Department of State. The request is only to be made after:
• The applicant has been interviewed and found to be eligible for adjustment of status (or, for cases adjudicated at a service center, simply found to be eligible for adjustment of status); and
• The requestor has verified that the current visa bulletin indicates that a visa number is available for the country and classification involved, and that the current bulletin has not been superseded by an advisory from the Visa Control Office.
The Department of State has guaranteed to USCIS that so long as the current visa bulletin and any superseding advisories indicate that a number is available, a number will be assigned.
There are currently two different procedures for ordering visa numbers from the Department of State: by fax and through IVAMS.
(A) Ordering by Fax. Offices can order a visa number by sending a fax listing the applicant's country of chargeability, preference classification symbol, priority date, and A-number to the Visa Control Office. While visa numbers can be requested at any time, the Visa Control Office can only respond during normal business hours. A sample fax format is contained in Appendix 23-7.
(B) Ordering Through IVAMS (formerly known as INSAMS). The Immigrant Visa Allocation Management System (IVAMS) was deployed to all USCIS Field Offices in 2002. Offices using IVAMS are given a special card which (when passed through a reader) allows them direct Internet access into the Visa Control Office's computer system. The visa number is requested on-line and issued instantaneously. Unlike the fax system, IVAMS is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. IVAMS is now the primary means to order visa numbers. The fax option is used as a backup