What Is an I-140 Priority Date and How Does It Work?

Your I-140 priority date is the date that fixes your place in line for an employment-based green card. It is set one of two ways: if your category requires a labor certification, the priority date is the day the Department of Labor accepted that application for processing; if your category does not require labor certification, it is the day USCIS received your completed I-140 petition. Because annual visa limits create backlogs that stretch years, and in some countries decades, this single date controls when you can finally apply for permanent residence.¹

How the Date Gets Set in Each Category

Different employment-based categories lock in the priority date at different stages of the process.

EB-2 and EB-3 with labor certification: The date is fixed when the Department of Labor accepts the PERM labor certification, not when USCIS later receives the I-140. Since PERM processing and I-140 adjudication each take months, your place in line is secured well before the petition is approved.
EB-1 (extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, multinational executives): No labor certification is required. The priority date is the I-140 receipt date at USCIS.
EB-2 National Interest Waiver: Also exempt from labor certification. The priority date is the I-140 receipt date.
EB-5 (immigrant investors): The priority date is the date USCIS receives the I-526E petition.

The distinction matters. For workers in backlogged categories, a labor certification filing date is almost always earlier than the I-140 filing date, and those extra months of seniority in the queue can make a real difference.

Where to Find Your Priority Date

After USCIS processes your petition, it mails a Form I-797, Notice of Action, which serves as either a receipt notice or an approval notice.² The priority date appears in a labeled field in the header, near the top of the form alongside your receipt number and other case identifiers.

If the priority date field is blank, the receipt date shown on the same form typically serves as your priority date. Keep the I-797. It is the single most important piece of paper for tracking your position in the visa queue, and you will reference it repeatedly over what could be years of waiting.

Reading the Visa Bulletin

Knowing your date is only half the equation. The other half is the monthly Visa Bulletin published by the Department of State, which tells you whether your date is “current” and you can move forward. The bulletin lists cutoff dates by employment-based category and country of birth. If your priority date is earlier than the cutoff for your category and country, a visa number is available to you.

The bulletin contains two separate charts:

Final Action Dates: This chart shows when a visa number is actually available for a green card to be issued. It is the default.
Dates for Filing: This chart has earlier cutoff dates and allows you to file adjustment of status sooner, even though a visa number may not yet be available for final approval. USCIS only authorizes this chart when it determines there are more immigrant visas available for the fiscal year than known applicants.³

Each month, USCIS posts which chart applies. If a category shows as current on Final Action Dates, or if the Final Action Dates cutoff is later than the Dates for Filing cutoff, you can use Final Action Dates regardless of what USCIS announced.³ The State Department releases each bulletin around the middle of the month for the following month, so checking regularly gives you time to prepare documents and medical exams before your filing window opens.

When the Line Moves Backward: Retrogression

Priority dates do not always move forward. When demand for visas exceeds supply in a given category, the State Department moves cutoff dates backward. This is called retrogression, and it can happen suddenly between one bulletin and the next.⁴

If you already filed your I-485 adjustment of status when your date was current and retrogression hits afterward, your application is not denied. USCIS holds the case in a pending state and cannot approve it until your priority date becomes current again. Retrogression does not change your priority date or your place in the queue. The line is just moving more slowly, or has temporarily stopped.⁴

While you wait, your employment authorization document and advance parole travel document remain valid and can be renewed. The biometrics USCIS collected do not expire for background check purposes, and USCIS will resubmit them as needed without a new appointment.⁴ If you are on H-1B status and your EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3 date is not current due to per-country limits, USCIS can grant H-1B extensions in increments of up to three years.

Keeping Your Priority Date When You Change Jobs

Long processing times mean many workers change jobs before their green card is approved. Federal regulations protect your priority date. Under 8 CFR 204.5(e), an approved I-140 petition under EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3 gives you the right to carry that priority date forward to any new petition filed under any of those three categories. If you have multiple approved petitions, you are entitled to use whichever priority date is earliest.¹

What happens if your old employer withdraws the I-140? If the petition was approved for at least 180 days before the withdrawal, it remains valid for priority date retention. The same protection applies if the original employer’s business closes entirely, as long as the petition was approvable at filing and the I-485 had been pending for 180 days or more.⁵

AC-21 Job Portability

A separate but related protection comes from the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act. If your I-485 has been pending for 180 days or more, you can change employers and your I-140 petition remains valid for the new job, provided the new position is in the same or a similar occupational classification.⁶ You retain the priority date from the original petition. To qualify, you need an approved I-140 (or a pending one that is ultimately approved), and you must submit a portability request to USCIS.⁵

Without this 180-day rule, workers facing multi-year backlogs would be effectively locked to a single employer for the entire wait.

Switching Between EB Categories

Because the Visa Bulletin often has different cutoffs for EB-2 and EB-3, workers sometimes benefit from filing a new petition in a different category. The regulation lets you retain your earliest priority date across EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 petitions.¹ A common strategy: an applicant with an approved EB-2 petition and a backlogged date files a new EB-3 petition when the EB-3 cutoff happens to be more favorable, carrying the original priority date to the new category.

The move works in the other direction too. An EB-3 applicant who qualifies for EB-2 through an advanced degree or exceptional ability can file a new EB-2 petition and keep the earlier EB-3 priority date. The requirement is that the original petition was approved and not revoked for disqualifying reasons. A new labor certification is typically needed for the new category and employer, but the priority date from the older approval travels with you.

Cross-Chargeability Through a Spouse

Visa availability is determined by country of birth, not citizenship or where you currently live. Applicants born in India and China face significantly longer waits than applicants from countries with lower demand. Cross-chargeability offers a workaround for some families.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, if your spouse was born in a country with a more favorable cutoff date, you can have your visa charged to your spouse’s country of birth instead of your own. An applicant born in India with an EB-2 petition, for example, could use a spouse’s French birth country if French EB-2 dates are current while Indian dates are years behind. Both spouses must be admitted to the United States simultaneously when one confers the preference status and the other confers the favorable chargeability. Children can also derive chargeability from either parent. The rule does not work in reverse: parents cannot derive chargeability from their children.⁷

Protecting Your Children From Aging Out

One of the most stressful features of long backlogs is the risk that your child “ages out” by turning 21 before the family’s priority date becomes current. A child who turns 21 loses derivative beneficiary status. The Child Status Protection Act provides partial relief by adjusting how a child’s age is calculated.

The formula: take the child’s biological age on the date a visa number becomes available, then subtract the number of days the I-140 petition was pending, from receipt to approval. The result is the child’s CSPA age. If it is under 21, the child qualifies as a derivative beneficiary, provided they seek permanent residence within one year of the visa becoming available.⁸

An important detail: USCIS determines visa availability for CSPA age calculation using the Final Action Dates chart of the Visa Bulletin, not the Dates for Filing chart. This policy took effect August 15, 2025, and applies to all requests filed on or after that date.⁹ If a child’s CSPA age comes out at 21 or older, the statute provides that their petition automatically converts to the appropriate category and retains the original priority date.⁸ The child keeps their place in line, even though they now wait in a different preference category.

How You Can Lose Your Priority Date

Not every priority date survives. A denied I-140 petition does not establish a priority date at all.¹ And an approved petition’s priority date cannot be retained if USCIS later revokes the approval for any of these reasons:

Fraud or willful misrepresentation of a material fact
The Department of Labor revokes the approved labor certification that accompanied the petition
USCIS or the Department of State invalidates the labor certification
USCIS determines the petition approval was based on a material error¹

A fraud-based revocation is the worst outcome. Beyond losing the priority date, it can jeopardize H-1B extensions and any pending AC-21 portability request. Priority dates are also non-transferable. You cannot give your priority date to a family member, a coworker, or anyone else.¹

1
eCFR. 8 CFR 204.5 – Petitions for Employment-Based Immigrants
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-797 Types and Functions
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment-Based Adjustment of Status FAQs
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part E Chapter 5 – Job Portability After Adjustment Filing and Other AC21
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1154 – Procedure for Granting Immigrant Status
7
U.S. Department of State. 9 FAM 503.2 – Chargeability
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Updates Policy on CSPA Age Calculation