Reading the Visa Bulletin

Where to find the Visa Bulletin

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) publishes a new Visa Bulletin every month, usually in the middle of the month for the following calendar month. You can find it at travel.state.gov by searching for "Visa Bulletin." Each bulletin is labeled by fiscal year and month, for example "Visa Bulletin for June 2026."

For applicants filing Form I-485 (adjustment of status) inside the United States, there is a second source to check every month: the USCIS visa availability announcement at uscis.gov/visabulletininfo. That page tells I-485 filers which of the two DOS charts they may use for that month. Both sources are needed if you are an adjustment-of-status filer.

What a priority date is

A priority date is the date that marks your place in line for an immigrant visa number in a preference category. It is not the date your petition was approved. For most petition-based cases, the priority date is the date USCIS received the underlying petition, such as a Form I-130 or Form I-140. For cases based on PERM labor certification, the priority date is the date the Department of Labor received the labor certification application.

Applicants with older priority dates have been waiting longer and are closer to the front of the line. When the Visa Bulletin advances, applicants whose priority dates are now earlier than the cutoff date shown in the bulletin become eligible to take the next step in their case. Applicants who do not yet have an approved petition do not have a priority date and cannot use the bulletin to assess their place in line.

Final Action Dates vs. Dates for Filing

Each monthly Visa Bulletin contains two separate charts for family-based cases and two for employment-based cases. The first chart is called Final Action Dates (FAD), sometimes called Table A. The second is called Dates for Filing (DFF), sometimes called Table B.

The FAD chart shows the cutoff date at which a visa number is actually available: if your priority date is earlier than the FAD cutoff for your category and country, a visa number can be issued or your I-485 can be approved. The DFF chart shows an earlier, more permissive cutoff date: it allows certain actions, such as NVC document collection for consular cases, or I-485 filing for adjustment applicants when USCIS permits it, to begin before a visa number is immediately available. The two charts are not interchangeable. Which one applies to your situation depends on your case type and, for I-485 filers, on the monthly USCIS announcement described in the next section.

The USCIS monthly chart-use decision

For adjustment-of-status filers only, USCIS publishes a separate announcement each month on its visa availability page at uscis.gov/visabulletininfo. That announcement states whether I-485 applicants in employment-based or family-based categories may use the Dates for Filing (DFF) chart or only the Final Action Dates (FAD) chart for that specific month.

This monthly decision applies only to I-485 filers inside the United States. It does not affect applicants going through consular processing abroad; consular applicants always use the FAD chart to determine when a visa number is available. The USCIS announcement changes from month to month and is not guaranteed to permit DFF use in any given month. Always check the current USCIS announcement before submitting or planning an I-485 filing.

What "current" means

When you look up your preference category and country column in a Visa Bulletin chart, you may see a date, the letter "C," or the letter "U." The letter "C" stands for "Current" and means there is no waiting line for that category and country combination: any applicant with an approved petition in that category and charged to that country can proceed without waiting for a cutoff date to advance.

The letter "U" stands for "Unavailable" and means no visa numbers are being issued in that category for that month. A specific date cutoff means that only applicants whose priority dates are earlier than that date are eligible. For example, if the chart shows 2020-01-15 for a given row and column, applicants with a priority date of January 14, 2020 or earlier are within the cutoff; applicants with a priority date of January 15, 2020 or later must wait.

Country of chargeability and the per-country limit

Immigrant visa numbers are charged to the applicant's country of birth, not country of citizenship or residence. Congress places an annual per-country limit on most preference categories: no single country may receive more than a set percentage of the worldwide annual preference visa numbers in a given category. This cap is the reason that applicants born in countries with high demand, such as India, China, Mexico, or the Philippines, often face much longer waits than applicants born elsewhere, even in the same preference category with the same priority date.

When you read the Visa Bulletin, look at the column that corresponds to your country of birth, not your passport country. If your country is not listed in its own column, your case uses the cutoff shown in the "All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed" column, which is the worldwide cutoff.

Cross-chargeability

Cross-chargeability is a rule that can help when a principal applicant and their spouse were born in different countries. Under this rule, a derivative spouse or unmarried child under 21 who accompanies or follows to join the principal applicant may be charged to the principal applicant's country of birth rather than their own country of birth, if doing so results in an earlier visa number availability.

The benefit works in both directions: the principal applicant may also be charged to the derivative spouse's country of birth if that country has an earlier cutoff date. Cross-chargeability applies only when the principal applicant and the derivative are filing together or are immigrating together. It does not apply when the derivative is filing on their own independent petition. To use cross-chargeability, the visa or I-485 officer must be notified; it is not applied automatically.

Retrogression

Retrogression occurs when a category's cutoff date moves backward from one month to the next. For example, if the FAD for a category showed a cutoff of 2021-06-01 in one month and then shows 2020-12-01 the following month, that is retrogression. Applicants whose priority dates were within the earlier cutoff but are now outside the new, earlier cutoff must wait again. A consular post will hold the case until the priority date becomes current once more; USCIS will not approve a pending I-485 until the FAD cutoff advances past the applicant's priority date.

Retrogression is most common late in the U.S. government fiscal year, which runs from October 1 through September 30. As the annual cap on visa numbers is approached each year, DOS may move cutoff dates backward to avoid exceeding the statutory limit. Applicants in heavily oversubscribed categories, particularly those charged to high-demand countries, are most likely to experience retrogression. A category that retrogressed may advance again in a subsequent month; there is no guarantee of when or whether it will recover.

Reading the bulletin: a worked example

Consider a hypothetical applicant: a person born in Mexico, applying through the F2A preference category (spouses and children of lawful permanent residents). Their priority date is March 15, 2022. Each month, that applicant would open the current Visa Bulletin, go to the family-based preference table, find the F2A row, and then find the Mexico column. They would compare their priority date to the cutoff shown in that cell.

If the current FAD for F2A Mexico shows a cutoff of November 8, 2021 and March 15, 2022 is earlier than that date, the applicant is within the FAD and a visa number is available. If the FAD cutoff is still earlier than March 15, 2022, the applicant must wait. If this applicant is filing Form I-485, they would also check the USCIS monthly announcement to see whether USCIS is permitting use of the DFF chart that month: if yes, and if the DFF cutoff for F2A Mexico is later than March 15, 2022, the applicant may be able to file the I-485 even if the FAD cutoff has not yet reached their date. Treat this as a fictional example only and always check the current bulletin for the actual numbers.

Dynamic items: verify with official sources