To read the Visa Bulletin, find your preference category row and your country-of-birth column on the chart that applies to your case, then compare the cutoff date printed in that box to your own priority date: if your priority date falls earlier than the cutoff, a visa number is available and you can take the next step; if it falls on or after the cutoff, you wait for a future month. That’s the whole mechanic. The rest is knowing which chart to read, what your priority date actually is, and what to do when the numbers move the wrong way.
The bulletin exists because Congress caps immigrant visas — at least 226,000 family-sponsored and 140,000 employment-based each fiscal year, with no single country receiving more than 7% of the combined total.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1151 – Worldwide Level of Immigration2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1152 – Numerical Limitations on Individual Foreign States Demand from India, China, Mexico, and the Philippines runs far ahead of those caps, so the Department of State rations numbers by setting monthly cutoff dates. Everyone earlier than the cutoff moves; everyone else stands still.
Three Things You Need Before You Open the Chart
You cannot read the bulletin without knowing your preference category, your priority date, and your country of chargeability. All three usually appear on your I-797 Notice of Action from USCIS.
Your Preference Category
The bulletin splits into family-sponsored and employment-based sections, and your category is the row you’ll read.
Family-sponsored categories:
- F1: unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of U.S. citizens
- F2A: spouses and children (unmarried, under 21) of lawful permanent residents
- F2B: unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of lawful permanent residents
- F3: married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
- F4: brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens, where the citizen is 21 or older
Employment-based categories:
- EB-1: priority workers — extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, certain multinational executives
- EB-2: advanced-degree professionals and exceptional-ability workers, including national interest waiver applicants
- EB-3: skilled workers, professionals with bachelor’s degrees, and other workers
- EB-4: certain special immigrants, including religious workers
- EB-5: immigrant investors
EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 each receive up to 28.6% of the annual employment-based supply; EB-4 and EB-5 each get 7.1%.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas Unused numbers flow down to lower categories, which is why watching a higher category go current can matter to you even when it isn’t yours.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants
Your Priority Date
Your priority date is your place in line. For family cases, it’s the date USCIS received the I-130 petition filed for you. For employment cases requiring labor certification, it’s the date the Department of Labor received the PERM application. For employment cases that skip PERM — EB-1 extraordinary ability or EB-2 national interest waivers, for example — it’s the date USCIS received the I-140.
An earlier date is worth protecting. If you change employers and your new employer files a fresh I-140, you can ask USCIS to carry over the priority date from a previously approved I-140 by including a statement and a copy of the prior approval notice.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Petition Filing and Processing Procedures for Form I-140 Once an I-140 has been approved for 180 days, it cannot be revoked even if the employer withdraws it, and you keep the date.
Your Country of Chargeability
The bulletin’s columns are countries, and your country is almost always the one you were born in, not your current citizenship or residence.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1152 Someone born in India who later became a Canadian citizen is charged to India. The bulletin gives dedicated columns to China (mainland), India, Mexico, and the Philippines; everyone else reads the “All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed” column.
One exception is worth knowing about: cross-chargeability. If your spouse was born in a country with a shorter backlog, you may be able to use your spouse’s country instead, provided you are accompanying or following to join and a visa isn’t already immediately available under your own country’s allocation.7U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual. 9 FAM 503.2 Chargeability For an India-Canada couple, that can cut years off the wait.
The Two Charts and What Each One Does
Every Visa Bulletin publishes two charts for each preference system: Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing. Confusing them is the most common mistake applicants make.
Final Action Dates
The Final Action Dates chart is the one that governs whether your green card can actually be approved. When your priority date is earlier than the cutoff on this chart, a visa number is available and USCIS or the consulate can issue the green card.8U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin For April 2026
Dates for Filing
The Dates for Filing chart opens the door earlier, letting you get your paperwork into the system before a visa number is actually ready. If you’re processing through the National Visa Center, this chart triggers your ability to pay the $325 immigrant visa fee and $120 affidavit of support review fee.9U.S. Department of State. Fees for Visa Services If you’re adjusting status inside the U.S., this chart controls when you can file Form I-485. Filing early has real payoffs: once your I-485 is pending, you can apply for work authorization and travel permission even if the final green card is still years away.
The Letter Codes
Instead of a date, a box may show a letter. “C” means the category is current — visas are available for all qualified applicants in that category regardless of priority date. “U” means unauthorized: no visas can be issued that month no matter how old your priority date is.8U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin For April 2026 These designations shift through the fiscal year as the remaining visa supply changes.
Reading a Row Against Your Priority Date
Open the current month’s bulletin on the Department of State’s website.10U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin Scroll to family-sponsored or employment-based, whichever fits you. Rows are preference categories; columns are countries. Find your category’s row, trace across to your country of birth’s column, and read the date in the box. That’s the cutoff for the month.
Now compare. If your priority date is earlier than the cutoff, you’re current for that chart and can take the associated action — file, if you’re reading the Dates for Filing chart; be approved, if you’re reading Final Action Dates. If your priority date is the same as or later than the cutoff, you wait.
An example. Suppose the Final Action Dates chart shows June 1, 2022 in the EB-3 row under the India column. A priority date of May 15, 2022 is current, so that case can move to final approval. A priority date of June 1, 2022 or later is not current: only dates strictly before the cutoff qualify.
Which Chart You Actually Use if You’re Adjusting Status
Here’s where it gets awkward for adjustment-of-status applicants inside the U.S. The Department of State publishes both charts, but USCIS decides each month which one applies to I-485 filings. Within about a week of each bulletin’s release, USCIS updates its Adjustment of Status Filing Charts page to announce whether applicants should use Dates for Filing or Final Action Dates.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin
USCIS designates Dates for Filing when it determines that more visa numbers are available for the fiscal year than there are known applicants. Otherwise it defaults to the more restrictive Final Action Dates chart. One added wrinkle: if your category is already current on the Final Action Dates chart, or if the Final Action Date is later than the Dates for Filing date, you file using the Final Action Dates chart no matter what USCIS designated that month.
This isn’t optional. Filing an I-485 when you’re not current under the designated chart gets the application rejected, and the I-485 filing fee — $1,440 on paper or $1,390 online for most adults — is not refunded on rejection.12U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form G-1055 – Fee Schedule Always check the USCIS filing charts page before you submit.
When the Dates Move Backward
Cutoff dates don’t always advance. When the Department of State projects that demand will exceed the remaining visa supply, it can pull the cutoff backward, sometimes by months or years. That’s called retrogression, and it tends to hit toward the end of the fiscal year as issuance approaches annual and per-country limits.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Visa Retrogression
If you already have a pending I-485 when this happens and your priority date falls behind the new cutoff, your case is not denied. It’s placed on hold at the service center where it was filed, or at the National Benefits Center if you’ve already had an interview, until the dates advance and your priority date becomes current again.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Visa Retrogression When that happens, USCIS resumes processing and may send fresh requests for evidence or interview notices.
Retrogression doesn’t strip you of the collateral benefits of a pending I-485. You can still apply for an Employment Authorization Document (Form I-765) and advance parole travel permission (Form I-131), as long as your I-485 was properly filed before retrogression hit your category.13U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Visa Retrogression Keep your address current with USCIS while you wait — all correspondence goes to the last address on file, and a missed notice can derail a case.
Where to Find the Current Bulletin
The Department of State posts each month’s Visa Bulletin on its travel website.10U.S. Department of State. Visa Bulletin Read that page for the cutoff dates, then read the USCIS Adjustment of Status Filing Charts page to confirm which chart applies to your I-485 for the same month.11U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin Do both every month your case is pending, because the answer changes.