Whether you can take the next step toward a green card depends on a single comparison: is your priority date earlier than the visa bulletin’s final-action cutoff for your category and country? This tracker makes that comparison against embedded cutoff dates and tells you immediately whether your date is current or still retrogressed.
How it works
Each employment-based (EB) and family-sponsored (F) preference category has a cutoff date per country of chargeability. Your date is current when:
your priority date <= final-action cutoff date → CURRENT
your priority date > final-action cutoff date → not current (wait)A category marked “C” (current) in the visa bulletin means there is no backlog for that category and country — any priority date qualifies. The embedded cutoffs reflect a specific bulletin month and must be updated each time a new bulletin releases.
Worked example
If the EB-2 India final-action cutoff is January 1, 2013:
- Priority date of March 15, 2012 → CURRENT (March 2012 is earlier than January 2013)
- Priority date of June 1, 2014 → NOT CURRENT (June 2014 is later than January 2013, must wait)
Understanding preference categories
Employment-based categories (EB):
- EB-1 — Priority workers: extraordinary ability, outstanding researchers, multinational managers. Historically current for most countries except India and China.
- EB-2 — Advanced degree professionals and exceptional ability. Severely backlogged for India and China, often by many years.
- EB-3 — Skilled workers, professionals, and other workers. Similar backlog pattern to EB-2 for high-demand countries.
- EB-4 — Special immigrants (religious workers, certain broadcasters, etc.).
- EB-5 — Investor visas. Subject to retrogression from high-demand countries.
Family-sponsored categories (F):
- F1 — Unmarried adult children of US citizens
- F2A — Spouses and minor children of permanent residents — often has significant backlog
- F2B — Unmarried adult children of permanent residents
- F3 — Married children of US citizens
- F4 — Siblings of US citizens
Country of chargeability
Your country of chargeability is usually your country of birth, not citizenship or current residence. Countries with separate, slower cutoff tracks include India and China for employment-based categories, and Mexico and Philippines for family-sponsored categories. All other countries share the “All Chargeability Areas” (worldwide) cutoff, which is generally more current.
Retrogression and what to do when it happens
Retrogression occurs when USCIS approves more adjustment-of-status applications than the annual per-country visa limit allows, causing the cutoff date to move backward. When retrogression hits a category you were tracking:
- If your I-485 is already filed: You remain in line and your application is not affected by the retrogression — you simply wait for the date to advance again.
- If you have not yet filed I-485: You must wait until your date is current again under whichever chart USCIS designates for that month.
- Fiscal year end (September): Retrogression is especially common in August and September as USCIS races to use the annual visa quota. Dates often advance again in October when the new fiscal year begins.
Final-action dates vs. dates for filing
The monthly visa bulletin publishes two charts:
- Final-action dates — the date your green card can actually be approved
- Dates for filing — an earlier date that determines when you can submit your adjustment-of-status I-485 application (only when USCIS designates this chart for that month)
This tracker uses final-action dates. Always verify the current month’s bulletin and USCIS’s chart designation at travel.state.gov before making any filing decision. The cutoffs embedded here are for reference and may be one or more months behind the current bulletin.