How To Read The US Visa Bulletin: A Complete Guide

Table Of Contents

Quick Answer

The Visa Bulletin is a monthly chart published by the US Department of State. It tells green card applicants in backlogged categories whether their turn has arrived. To read it, find your category, find your country of birth, and compare the date in the chart with your own priority date. If your priority date is earlier than the date in the chart, you can move forward. If it is the same or later, you keep waiting.

That is the entire system in four sentences. The rest of this guide explains each piece, then walks through a real example so the charts stop looking like a wall of numbers.

What The VISA Bulletin Actually Is

The United States limits how many green cards it issues each year in the family-sponsored and employment-based preference categories. Congress set those limits decades ago, and demand in many categories exceeds supply every single year.

When demand exceeds supply, a line forms.

The Visa Bulletin is the public record of where that line currently stands. The Department of State publishes it every month on its website at travel.state.gov, usually in the second or third week, covering the following month.

One important exclusion before we go further. Immediate relatives of US citizens, meaning spouses, parents, and unmarried children under 21, are not subject to these limits. If you are in that group, the Visa Bulletin does not apply to you at all.

Your Priority Date Is Your Place In Line

Every applicant in a preference category has a priority date. It is the single most important date in your immigration case.

For family-sponsored cases, your priority date is the day USCIS received the Form I-130 petition filed for you.

For most employment-based cases, it is the day the Department of Labor received the PERM labor certification application. If your category does not require labor certification, it is the day USCIS received the Form I-140 petition.

You will find your priority date printed on your Form I-797 approval notice.

Think of it as a ticket number at a very slow counter. The Visa Bulletin announces which ticket numbers are now being served.

The Two Charts, And Why There Are Two

Each monthly bulletin contains two charts for family cases and two for employment cases.

Chart A, Final Action Dates: This chart shows when a green card can actually be approved. If your priority date is earlier than the date listed for your category and country, a visa number is available, and your case can be completed.
Chart B, Dates For Filing: This chart is usually more generous. It shows when you may submit your final application paperwork even though approval is not yet possible. Filing early lets the government begin processing your documents, and for applicants inside the US it can unlock work and travel permits while the wait continues.

Here is the part that confuses almost everyone. If you are applying from inside the United States through adjustment of status, you cannot simply pick the chart you prefer. Each month, USCIS separately announces which chart adjustment applicants must use. That announcement appears on the USCIS website on a page titled Adjustment of Status Filing Charts, often called the When to File page. The designation can differ between family and employment cases in the same month, and it changes month to month. Checking it is not optional. It is step zero.

If you are applying from outside the United States through a consulate, the process is simpler. The National Visa Center works from the Final Action Dates chart.

A Worked Example

Theory is fine. Here is how a real reading goes.

Maria was born in Mexico. Her US citizen brother filed a Form I-130 for her, and USCIS received it on June 10, 2010. That makes her category F4 (siblings of US citizens), with a priority date of June 10, 2010.

Maria opens the current bulletin and goes to the family-sponsored Final Action Dates chart. She finds the F4 row. She then finds the Mexico column, because chargeability follows country of birth, not citizenship or current residence.

Suppose the cell where the F4 row meets the Mexico column reads 01MAR10. That is the bulletin’s date format for March 1, 2010.

Maria compares. Her priority date is June 10, 2010. The cutoff is March 1, 2010. Her date is later than the cutoff, so no visa number is available for her yet. She is close, but her ticket has not been called.

If a future bulletin shows the F4 Mexico cell at 01JUL10, her June 10, 2010 date is now earlier than the cutoff. Her turn has arrived, and the National Visa Center will move her case toward a consular interview.

That comparison, your date against the cell, is the whole skill. Everything else is context.

What C And U Mean

Some cells contain no date at all. They show a letter instead.

C Stands For Current: There is no backlog. Every applicant in that category and country can proceed regardless of priority date.
U Stands For Unavailable: No visa numbers are left for that category this month, usually because the annual limit has been reached. This happens most often near the end of the government fiscal year, which closes on September 30. Exhausted categories typically receive fresh numbers when the new fiscal year opens on October 1. It is common to see a heavily backlogged category sit at U through August and September, then reappear with a date in the October bulletin.

Retrogression, The Unpleasant Surprise

Dates in the bulletin usually move forward. Sometimes they move backward. That is called retrogression.

It happens when the Department of State realizes more people are ready to complete their cases than there are visa numbers left. To stay within the legal limits, it pulls the cutoff date back.

Retrogression is why experienced applicants act the moment their date becomes available. A window open this month can close next month. If you have already filed a proper adjustment application during an open window, later retrogression does not cause your case to be rejected. It simply waits in the queue until your date becomes current again, and approval comes only when a visa number is once more available.

The Categories At A Glance

Family-sponsored preferences: F1 covers unmarried adult children of US citizens. F2A covers spouses and minor children of permanent residents. F2B covers unmarried adult children of permanent residents. F3 covers married children of US citizens. F4 covers siblings of US citizens. F4 carries the longest waits in the entire system, often exceeding 15 years and stretching past 20 for some countries.
Employment-based preferences: EB-1 covers priority workers such as multinational executives and people of extraordinary ability. EB-2 covers professionals with advanced degrees. EB-3 covers skilled workers and professionals. EB-4 covers special immigrants, including religious workers. EB-5 covers investors.

Countries with the heaviest demand receive their own columns in the charts. In recent years, that has meant China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines. Every other country falls under the column labeled All Chargeability Areas.

A Piece Of Trivia

The per-country limit that creates decades-long waits for India and Mexico is not a percentage of demand. It is a flat rule. No single country may receive more than about seven percent of the preference visas in a year, whether that country has one billion people or one hundred thousand. Liechtenstein and India operate under the same ceiling. That single design choice, written into law in 1990, explains most of what you see in the bulletin today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I find my priority date?

It is printed on your Form I-797 approval notice for the I-130 or I-140 petition. For PERM-based cases, it is the date the labor certification was filed with the Department of Labor.

Does my priority date ever change?

The date itself does not change, but it can sometimes be carried over. Many employment-based applicants retain an older priority date when a new I-140 is filed in the same or a higher category.

My date is current. What happens now?

If you are in the US, you may file Form I-485 to adjust status, provided your date qualifies under the chart USCIS has designated for that month. If you are abroad, the National Visa Center will contact you to complete consular processing.

Which chart should I check first?

Check the USCIS Adjustment of Status Filing Charts page first if you are inside the US. It tells you whether Chart A or Chart B controls your filing that month. Consular applicants can go straight to the Final Action Dates chart.

Why did the bulletin barely move this month?

Movement depends on how many visa numbers remain and how many applicants ahead of you are completing their cases. Slow months, especially late in the fiscal year, are normal.

When is the new bulletin released?

Usually in the second or third week of each month, covering the month that follows. The new fiscal year begins every October 1, which is when exhausted categories typically receive fresh numbers.