The paper deals with the variational convergence of a sequence of optimal control problems for functional differential state equations with deviating argument. Variational limit problems are found under various conditions of convergence of the input data. It is shown that, upon sufficiently weak assumptions on convergence of the argument deviations, the limit problem can assume a form different from that of the whole sequence. In particular, it can be either an optimal control problem for an integro-differential equation or a purely variational problem. Conditions are found under which the limit problem preserves the form of the original sequence.