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EXPLAINER · EVERY RULE QUOTED FROM AN OFFICIAL SOURCE · CHECKED OCTOBER 18, 2026

Priority date

Your place in the green card line — what the date is, where it comes from, and how the Visa Bulletin uses it.

Some green card categories have a fixed number of visas each year, so applicants wait in a line. Spouses, unmarried children under 21 and parents of adult U.S. citizens are outside that line: their visas have no annual cap.[1][2]

The priority date is what decides your place in that line.[3]

Where your priority date comes from

It is printed on the receipt or approval notice for the petition filed for you.[4]

  • Family cases: the day the I-130 petition (or, in some cases, the I-360) was properly filed with USCIS.[5]
  • Employment cases that need a labor certification (PERM): the day the Department of Labor accepted the labor certification application for processing.[6]
  • To keep that date, the employer has to file the I-140 within 180 days of the labor certification approval.[7]
  • Employment cases that do not need a labor certification: the day USCIS accepted the I-140.[8]

How the Visa Bulletin uses it

Each month the Visa Bulletin publishes a cutoff date for every category and country. A visa is available when your priority date is earlier than that cutoff.[9]

USCIS gives an example: a cutoff of 15DEC07 for China F1 means visas are available to people whose priority date is before December 15, 2007.[10]

  • "C" means the category is current: there is no line for it that month.[11]
  • "U" means no visas can be issued in that category that month.[12]

How long the wait is depends on three things.[13]

See it in the data

Every cutoff date the State Department has published since 2001, for each category and country, is on the Visa Bulletin history pages.

Which of the two monthly charts applies to a filing is a separate question, covered in Final Action Dates vs Dates for Filing.

This page explains general rules in plain English. It is not legal advice and does not tell you what applies to your case. Each numbered source below is the official page the sentence comes from; read it before relying on anything here.

Sources

  1. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Immigrant visas for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are unlimited, so they are always available.”
  2. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Immigrant visas for the family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant preference categories are numerically limited, so they are not always immediately available.”
  3. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “DOS uses the priority date to determine an immigrant’s place in the visa queue.”
  4. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “you can find your priority date on Form I-797, Notice of Action , for the petition filed on your behalf.”
  5. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “For family-sponsored immigrants, the priority date is the date that the Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative , or in certain instances the Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant , is properly filed with USCIS.”
  6. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Your preference category requires a labor certification from Department of Labor (DOL) DOL accepts the labor certification application for processing.”
  7. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “the petitioner must file Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker , with USCIS within 180 days of the DOL approval date on the labor certification or else the labor certification is no longer valid.”
  8. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Your preference category does not require a DOL labor certification USCIS accepts Form I-140 for processing”
  9. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “A visa is available to you when your priority date is earlier than the cut-off date shown for your preference category and country of chargeability in the applicable chart in the Visa Bulletin”
  10. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “if the Visa Bulletin shows a date of 15DEC07 for China in the family preference category (F1), visas are currently available for immigrants who have a priority date earlier than Dec. 15, 2007.”
  11. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “the Visa Bulletin shows that category as “C,” meaning that immigrant visas are currently (immediately) available to all qualified adjustment of status applicants and overseas immigrant visa applicants”
  12. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “If the Visa Bulletin shows “U” in a category, this means that immigrant visas are temporarily unavailable to all applicants in that particular preference category and/or country of chargeability.”
  13. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “How long you must wait depends on your priority date, preference category, and the country to which the visa will be charged.”

Next: Final Action Dates vs Dates for Filing →