What is the Visa Bulletin?

The U.S. government can only give out a certain number of green cards (or immigrant visas) each year. There are rules about how many visas can be used in each country and category. The Visa Bulletin helps the government keep track of all these visa numbers. It’s also a tool help understand when you can apply for your case and when it can be approved. It’s like a schedule that tells you when it’s your turn.

How does it work?

You can use the Visa Bulletin to understand when you can start the last stage of the green card process. This will signal when you can file a Form I-485 with

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) if you are in the United States or consular processing through Department of State (DOS) if you are overseas.

In the Visa Bulletin, there’s a list of countries at the top and different visa categories on the side, like F1 or EB2. Find your Priority Date from your Form I-797 Approval Notice. Then on the Visa Bulletin, go to the box under your Country of Birth (unless you were born in one of the 3 individual countries listed, you will fall under “all chargeability areas except those listed”) and find your visa category. If the date in that box is later than your date, you might be able to move forward with your case. It depends on whether you’re looking at the Final Action or Dates for Filing charts. The Dates for Filing Chart may be relevant for individuals filing a Form I-485.

For example, if your Priority Date is September 1, 2013, in the F1 category, and you were born in India, your date is earlier than December 1, 2014, (the Cutoff Date) for F1 India, it means you can move forward with your case. Click here for our printable/downloadable guide.

What’s new on the current visa bulletin?

For October and November 2023, USCIS announced that the Dates for Filing Chart should be used to determine whether family and employment-based adjustment of status applications may be filed. The November 2023 Visa Bulletin is the same as the October 2023 Visa Bulletin, except as specifically discussed below.

Between September 2023 and November 2023, visa availability remains the same in the family-based categories, except for F2A, spouses, and children of permanent residents, which means that concurrent filing of I-130 and I-485 applications is unavailable.

The Visa Bulletins for October and November 2023 continued much of the retrogression that began with the May 2023 bulletin. While there were hopes that with the start of the new fiscal year, final action dates for EB-2 and EB-3 worldwide would be current, both categories start the fiscal year with cutoff dates, which is unprecedented.

While the October 2023 Visa Bulletin contains no explanation for the continued retrogression, in its FAQ, USCIS explained that it has a significant number of employment-based adjustment of status applications in its inventory and, based on demand, cannot accept substantial additional filings to start this fiscal year. For those chargeable to India in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories, USCIS explained that it has enough applications in inventory to use all available visas in those categories for Fiscal Year 2024 plus the next several years.

What does this mean for someone applying for a green card or permanent residence?

This means that the wait times for a visa to be available will be longer. If you have a pending green card application and you fall within the immigrant visa categories, be prepared to wait. However, if you are an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, a visa is always available for you. If you have any questions or concerns about your immigrant visa application, please contact us. We are here to help. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Tumblr, for up-to-date immigration news.

Torregoza Legal PLLC is the law firm for immigrants, by immigrants. We are founded on the motto of LegalEase: we do away with the legal jargon and make law easy to understand, so you can focus on what’s important to you – going for your American Dream.
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