The F2A visa bulletin is the monthly Department of State chart that tells spouses and unmarried children under 21 of lawful permanent residents when they can move a green card case forward. It has two tables: Dates for Filing tells you when you can submit paperwork, and Final Action Dates tells you when a visa number is actually available for approval. As of April 2026, Dates for Filing shows “C” (current) for all countries, while Final Action Dates sits in early 2024 for most applicants and early 2023 for Mexico.1U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin for April 2026
How to Read the Two F2A Charts
Find the F2A row in each chart, then look at the column that matches your country of birth. Most applicants read the column labeled “All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed.” Separate columns exist for China (mainland-born), India, Mexico, and the Philippines because demand from those countries is heavier. If the chart shows a date, your priority date must be earlier than that date to qualify. When the chart shows “C,” the category is current and anyone with an approved petition can move forward regardless of priority date.1U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin for April 2026
The two charts do different jobs. Dates for Filing usually runs ahead of Final Action Dates, letting people get documents into the pipeline before a visa number is technically available. Final Action Dates is the stricter chart, and it controls when a case can actually be approved.
Which Chart Applies to You
If you are adjusting status inside the United States, USCIS decides each month whether adjustment applicants use Dates for Filing or Final Action Dates. When USCIS determines there are more visa numbers available than known applicants, it authorizes use of the Dates for Filing chart. Otherwise, applicants must use Final Action Dates. The determination is posted on the USCIS website, typically within a week of each bulletin’s release. If your category shows “current” on Final Action Dates, or the Final Action date is later than the Dates for Filing date, you can file using Final Action Dates that month regardless of the general determination.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin
If you are outside the United States and going through consular processing, Dates for Filing generally controls when the National Visa Center will accept documents and schedule an interview.
Finding Your Priority Date
Every F2A applicant has a priority date that marks their place in line. For family cases, it is the day the petitioner properly filed Form I-130 with USCIS.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Visa Availability and Priority Dates The date is printed on the Form I-797 Notice of Action that USCIS sends as a receipt when the petition is filed, and again on the approval notice.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797 Types and Functions Keep both. You will compare that date to the bulletin every month.
If a new I-130 has to be filed for the same beneficiary after a change in circumstances, the new petition generally carries a new priority date based on when it was filed.
Cross-Chargeability for Mixed-Nationality Couples
If you were born in a country with longer wait times but your spouse was born somewhere with a more favorable cutoff, you may be able to “charge” your visa to your spouse’s country of birth. Federal law allows this when it prevents the separation of spouses, provided your spouse also qualifies for an immigrant visa and the other country has not hit its annual limit.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S.C. 1152 – Numerical Limitations on Individual Foreign States Children can be charged to either parent’s country of birth. For mixed-nationality couples, this can shorten the wait significantly.
Why the Dates Move (or Don’t)
F2A cutoffs don’t advance at a steady pace. Some months the date jumps forward several weeks. Other months it doesn’t move. Occasionally it moves backward, which is called retrogression. That happens when the State Department realizes more people are applying than the law allows it to approve in a given period, so it pulls the date back to slow things down.
Retrogression is uncomfortable, but it does not destroy a pending case. If you already filed an I-485 using the Dates for Filing chart and the Final Action Date later retrogresses behind your priority date, USCIS holds the case in abeyance rather than denying it. The application stays on file, and work authorization and advance parole can continue to be renewed while you wait. Approval can happen only once your priority date is current again under Final Action Dates.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin
Stagnant dates tend to cluster near the end of the federal fiscal year, which ends September 30, as visa numbers grow scarce. The new fiscal year in October often brings a fresh batch of numbers and noticeable forward movement. F2A has fluctuated between current and backlogged in recent years, which is why the two charts can look so different in a given month.
Children and the Child Status Protection Act
Children in F2A cases face a real risk of aging out: turning 21 before the case is finalized and losing eligibility. The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) reduces that risk by adjusting the child’s age with a formula rather than using their literal birthday.
For F2A, USCIS calculates the CSPA age by taking the child’s biological age on the date a visa becomes available and subtracting the number of days the I-130 was pending before approval. A visa is considered available on the later of two dates: the date the petition was approved, or the first day of the month when the Final Action Dates chart shows the category current for the applicant. The pending time equals the number of days between the I-130 filing date and the approval date. If the resulting CSPA age is under 21, the child qualifies as long as they remain unmarried.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Child Status Protection Act (CSPA)
CSPA protection is not automatic. The child must “seek to acquire” permanent resident status within one year of a visa becoming available. Qualifying actions include filing Form DS-260, filing Form I-485, or having the child listed on an Affidavit of Support filed with the National Visa Center. A principal applicant’s filing does not satisfy this requirement for a derivative child. Each person whose age needs protection must take their own qualifying step within the one-year window.7U.S. Department of State. 9 FAM 502.1 – IV Classifications Overview
Watch cases that have retrogressed and then become current again. A visa may have “become available” more than once during the life of a petition, and the one-year clock may have started at the first availability. Missing that deadline can cost the child CSPA protection entirely.
When the Petitioner Becomes a U.S. Citizen
This is one of the most consequential changes that can happen to an F2A case. When the lawful permanent resident who filed the I-130 naturalizes, the petition automatically converts from F2A, which has numerical limits, to an immediate relative petition, which has no annual cap and no waiting line.8U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 2 – General Eligibility Requirements For a spouse, this is almost always good news. The original priority date carries over, but it becomes largely irrelevant because immediate relative visas are always available.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Visa Availability and Priority Dates
The catch is for children listed as derivatives on the petition. Immediate relative petitions do not carry derivative beneficiaries the way preference petitions do. When the petition converts, any children on the case lose their derivative status. The now-citizen petitioner has to file a separate I-130 for each child, and those children need to meet the legal definition of “child” at the time.9U.S. Department of State. 9 FAM 502.2 – Family-Based IV Classifications If a child is close to 21 or the F2A date is about to become current, the timing of the petitioner’s naturalization deserves careful thought. In some situations, the family is better off if the petitioner waits.
Filing Once Your Date Is Current
Once your priority date is earlier than the applicable chart date (or the category is current), you move to filing. Inside the United States, that means Form I-485. When the F2A category is current, USCIS allows concurrent filing of the I-130 and I-485 together, so the petitioner and beneficiary can submit both at once rather than waiting for the I-130 approval.10U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Concurrent Filing of Form I-485 Outside the United States, applicants file Form DS-260 through the National Visa Center. The immigrant visa application fee for family preference cases is $325 per person, and the Affidavit of Support review fee is $120.11U.S. Department of State. Fees for Visa Services
Tracking the Bulletin Month to Month
The State Department publishes each new Visa Bulletin around the middle of the month before it takes effect. The October bulletin, for instance, typically appears in mid-September. Bookmark the Visa Bulletin page and check it monthly.12U.S. Department of State. The Visa Bulletin Then check the USCIS chart determination page to see which chart applies for adjustment filers that month.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin
Keep supporting documents current while you wait. Medical examinations on Form I-693 expire, civil documents may need recent certified copies, and financial records go stale. When the bulletin shows your date approaching, start gathering fresh versions so you can file the month your date becomes current. Assembling documents only after the date arrives can cost you if the category retrogresses before your application lands.
For families with a child approaching 21, do the CSPA math carefully. Calculate the pending time between I-130 filing and approval, and subtract that from the child’s age on the date a visa becomes available. If the margin is tight, talk to an immigration attorney before the petitioner takes any action that could change the petition’s classification, especially naturalization.