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The Visa Bulletin is the most consulted and least understood document by those waiting in the U.S. green card line. It determines, month by month, when millions of people with already-approved petitions can finally take the final step toward permanent residence. Although it is often attributed to USCIS, the Visa Bulletin is published by the Department of State (DOS) through the Bureau of Consular Affairs. USCIS only decides each month which of the two bulletin charts it will accept for adjustment of status purposes.
What the Visa Bulletin Is For
The U.S. Congress caps the annual number of green cards distributed by category and country of birth. The total number of employment-based immigrant visas is approximately 140,000 per year, split across five preferences (EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, EB-4, and EB-5), with the additional rule that no single country may receive more than 7% of the overall total. Family-based visas have a separate, even more restricted quota.
When a country’s demand exceeds its quota, a backlog forms. The Visa Bulletin is the public tracker of that backlog: it shows, each month, the oldest priority date still eligible to receive a green card in a given category and country. Those with a priority date earlier than that cutoff may proceed; those with a later date must wait.
How Priority Dates Work
The priority date is the applicant’s place in line. For employment-based cases that do not require PERM (such as EB-1A, EB-1C, and EB-2 NIW), it is the date on which the I-140 was received by USCIS. For cases that require PERM (such as standard EB-2 and EB-3), it is the date on which the Application for Permanent Employment Certification was received by the Department of Labor. The priority date follows the applicant throughout their entire immigration journey and may even be ported to future petitions under specific portability rules.
To determine whether a priority date is current, the applicant compares their date against the Visa Bulletin chart for the current month, at the row of their preference category (EB-2, EB-3, etc.) and the column for their country of birth (not citizenship). Countries with historically high demand, such as India and China, have their own columns with dramatically longer wait times than the general column labeled All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed.
Final Action Dates vs. Dates for Filing
Since October 2015, the Visa Bulletin has included two parallel charts for each quota, and this duality is the greatest source of confusion among applicants.
Chart A — Final Action Dates indicates when a case may be approved and a green card officially granted. Applicants with a priority date before this cutoff may receive a final decision. Chart B — Dates for Filing is more permissive: it indicates when a case may be filed, even if it is not yet ready for final approval. Filing early under Chart B offers significant advantages for adjustment-of-status applicants: it locks in lawful status in the United States through a pending I-485, unlocks independent work authorization (EAD) and Advance Parole, and allows spouses and children to be included before they age out of eligibility.
In the first half of each month, USCIS publishes on a dedicated page of its website which chart it will accept that month for adjustment of status purposes. For consular processing, the National Visa Center follows its own DOS rule, generally tied to Chart B for early document collection.
Monthly Movement and Retrogression
Month to month, dates advance, stall, or move backward. Forward movement means more applicants may proceed. Stagnation signals that the quota is under pressure. Backward movement, a phenomenon known as retrogression, occurs when the DOS projects that demand for the fiscal year will exceed the available quota and needs to slow the flow. There have been years when the Chart A cutoff for India’s EB-2 category moved back more than a decade in a single bulletin.
Categories and countries may appear marked as C (Current: no backlog, all priority dates are eligible), with a specific date, or as U (Unavailable: the entire annual quota has been exhausted and no cases will be adjudicated until the start of the next fiscal year on October 1).
Practical Implications for Immigration Planning
Understanding the Visa Bulletin enables important strategic decisions. Professionals born in India or China who qualify for both EB-2 and EB-3 monitor which category is moving faster and may transfer their I-140 to the more favorable category at specific times through portability rules. Spouses with their own priority dates decide which one to use as the household base. Parents of children approaching age 21 calculate against the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) to avoid aging out during the wait.
For those who have not yet petitioned, the Visa Bulletin is a timing barometer: applicants whose country faces a long backlog in a given category may have an incentive to pursue a backlog-free category (such as EB-1A) if their profile allows, even if the evidentiary bar is higher. The difference between a 6-month and an 8-year wait fundamentally changes the calculus around career, family, and personal finances.
Where to Check It and What to Expect
The bulletin is published at travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html, typically between the 8th and 15th of each month, and takes effect for the following month. Alongside the charts, the DOS publishes a section called News and Notes that signals expectations for coming months, frequently warning of imminent retrogression or rapid forward movement. This section is just as important as the charts themselves and is rarely translated or highlighted in non-English coverage, even though it shapes the planning of hundreds of thousands of applicants.
Victoria Harper
Editor-in-Chief
Leading journalism and editorial content at Visto n’ Visa, Victoria helps make immigration topics clear, trustworthy, and easy to understand. Her focus is on delivering useful, human, and relevant content for people exploring new paths abroad.
