Visa Bulletin

In plain terms: the Visa Bulletin is a monthly chart published by the U.S. State Department that shows whose turn it is to receive a green card, based on their priority date, green card category and country of birth.

It exists because each green card category, including EB-3 Other Workers, has a yearly limit, and more people qualify than there are green cards available. The Visa Bulletin works like a “now serving” sign: it lists a cutoff date for each category and country, and workers with priority dates before that cutoff can move forward.

What it means for you: after the I-140 is approved, the Visa Bulletin is what decides when the sponsored worker can get the green card and start work. Dates usually move forward over time, but they can stay the same for months or even move back, and no one can predict exactly when a date will become current.

Final action date

In plain terms: the final action date is the cutoff date in the Visa Bulletin that controls when a green card can actually be approved.

If the worker’s priority date is earlier than the final action date listed for their category and country of birth, their priority date is “current,” and the green card can be approved. If the chart shows “C” instead of a date, every priority date in that category and country is current. Example: if the final action date for EB-3 Other Workers is January 1 of a given year, a worker whose priority date is earlier than that date can be approved, and a worker with a later date keeps waiting.

Dates for filing

In plain terms: dates for filing is the second chart in each month’s Visa Bulletin. It shows when a worker can start the final green card paperwork, even before the final action date is reached.

For workers in the U.S., USCIS announces each month whether adjustment of status applications can be filed using this chart or the final action date chart. For workers outside the U.S., the National Visa Center uses it to invite them to submit their documents. The green card itself still can’t be approved until the final action date is reached.

Chargeability

In plain terms: chargeability is the country a worker’s green card is counted against. It’s generally the worker’s country of birth, not their citizenship or where they live now.

Besides the yearly limit for each category, no single country can use more than a set share of green cards each year. That’s why the Visa Bulletin lists separate dates for some countries, such as China, India, Mexico and the Philippines, and one date for all other countries. Two workers sponsored for the same job on the same day can wait different amounts of time if they were born in different countries.