Guide for immigration firms
Final action dates vs dates for filing: how to read the Visa Bulletin
What each chart means, how to read a row, which chart USCIS applies to adjustment of status each month, and a monthly routine for checking every client who is waiting on a priority date.
The Visa Bulletin has two charts, and they answer different questions. Application Final Action Dates show when an immigrant visa or green card may be issued. Dates for Filing Applications show the earliest date an applicant may be able to apply. Put simply, the final action date is about the finish line and the date for filing is about the starting line. If a client's priority date is earlier than the date listed for their category and country, the client is current on that chart, and a cell marked "C" means the category is current.
For adjustment of status, the chart that counts is the one USCIS designates. Each month USCIS decides which chart adjustment applicants use and posts it on its Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin page, generally within about a week of the bulletin's publication. It can designate different charts for family-sponsored and employment-based categories in the same month.
The three facts behind every lookup
The Department of State publishes the Visa Bulletin every month. Before anyone reads it for a client, the file needs three facts, confirmed.
Priority date
The priority date is the client's place in line. In family cases it is generally the date the petition was properly filed. In many employment cases it is the date the labor certification was filed, or the date the petition was filed when no labor certification was required. It usually appears on the notice for the underlying petition. Record it exactly and have a second person check it against the notice; a typo here produces a confident wrong answer every month.
Preference category
The preference category is the line the client is standing in. Family-sponsored and employment-based categories appear in separate tables:
| Category | Who it covers, in plain terms |
|---|---|
| F1 | Unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens |
| F2A | Spouses and children of permanent residents |
| F2B | Unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of permanent residents |
| F3 | Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens |
| F4 | Brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens |
| EB-1 | Priority workers |
| EB-2 | Professionals with advanced degrees and people of exceptional ability |
| EB-3 | Skilled workers, professionals and other workers |
| EB-4 | Certain special immigrants |
| EB-5 | Immigrant investors |
Some categories have more than one row (other workers, certain religious workers, the investor categories), so match each client to the exact row. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents of citizens who are at least 21) are not subject to these annual limits and do not wait on the bulletin.
Country of chargeability
Chargeability is usually based on the client's country of birth, which is not always the country of citizenship. The bulletin has a column for all chargeability areas plus separate columns for specific countries with especially high demand, named in the header, and those columns can move very differently. Exceptions exist, so chargeability is an attorney call, recorded in the file.
How to read a row
Each chart is a grid: rows are preference categories, columns are chargeability areas, and each cell holds a date or the letter C.
- Pick the table. Family-sponsored and employment-based categories each have a Final Action Dates table and a Dates for Filing table.
- Find the row for the client's exact preference category.
- Find the column for the client's country of chargeability. If the country is not named in the header, use the column for all chargeability areas.
- Read the cell. C means the category is current for that country on that chart. A date is a cutoff.
- Compare. If the client's priority date is earlier than the cutoff, the client is current on that chart this month. If it is the same date or later, the client is still waiting.
- Check the designation. For adjustment of status, the result that counts is the one on the chart USCIS designated for that month.
Read the notes at the end of each bulletin too. The State Department sometimes uses them to explain movement or flag possible changes. Other codes can appear in a cell, and the bulletin explains them.
Which Visa Bulletin chart USCIS uses
USCIS does not use one chart all the time. Each month it designates the chart for adjustment of status on its chart page, and it can pick different charts for family-sponsored and employment-based categories. Two habits keep your firm on the right one:
- Wait for the designation. Never tell a client they can file based on the bulletin alone.
- Log it. Record the designation every month, so anyone can see later which chart the firm relied on.
Final action dates vs dates for filing, side by side
| Question | Application Final Action Dates | Dates for Filing Applications |
|---|---|---|
| What does it tell you? | When an immigrant visa or green card may be issued | The earliest date an applicant may be able to apply |
| When does it control adjustment filings? | In months when USCIS designates it | In months when USCIS designates it |
| What if the client is current on it? | A green card may be issued once the rest of the case is in order | The client may be able to apply, if USCIS designated this chart |
| What should the firm watch for? | Retrogression, which can leave a filed case waiting | Assuming that current here means a green card can be issued now |
Worked example: a hypothetical client
This example is hypothetical. It uses no real dates and describes no real person.
Your firm represents a hypothetical F2B beneficiary: the unmarried adult son of a permanent resident. His priority date is on the petition notice, his country of chargeability is not named in the bulletin header, and the attorney has confirmed he is in the United States and may be eligible to adjust status.
The new bulletin comes out. The paralegal opens the family-sponsored tables, finds the F2B row, reads the column for all chargeability areas on both charts, and records two results:
- Dates for Filing: his priority date is earlier than the date listed for F2B. He is current on this chart.
- Final Action Dates: his priority date is later than the date listed for F2B. He is not current on this chart.
What happens next depends on USCIS:
- If USCIS designates Dates for Filing for family-sponsored categories, he may be able to file for adjustment this month. The paralegal flags the case, the attorney reviews eligibility, and document collection starts that week.
- If USCIS designates Final Action Dates, the bulletin does not let him file this month. The firm logs the result, tells him in plain language that his turn has not come yet, and checks again next month.
Now move the story forward. In a later month, his priority date is earlier than the Final Action Dates cutoff too. That is when a green card may be issued, if the rest of the case is in order. Then the F2B date on the Final Action Dates chart moves backward, and his priority date is no longer earlier than it. That is retrogression.
The paralegal needed five things to get this right: the exact category, country column and priority date, both charts, and the USCIS designation. Miss one and the answer looks right but is wrong.
What "current" means for your workflow
A client who is current under the chart USCIS designates may have an opportunity that does not last. Dates can advance, stay the same or retrogress, and nobody can promise what next month's bulletin will show. Treat a newly current client as urgent:
- Flag the client for attorney review the day the result is confirmed.
- Send the document request right away, in the client's language.
- Book a call to walk the client through next steps.
- Put a filing target on the calendar with a named owner.
- If filing slips into the next month, recheck the new bulletin and designation first.
What retrogression means for your workflow
Retrogression is when a date in the bulletin moves backward compared with an earlier month. It has three operational consequences:
- Clients about to file may have to wait. If a client is no longer current under the designated chart, the filing plan changes, and the attorney decides what to tell the client.
- Filed cases may wait longer. Final Action Dates govern when a green card may be issued, so an application filed earlier can sit until the date moves forward again.
- Clients will call. Some follow bulletin news on their own. An attorney-approved explanation, sent before they hear it elsewhere, heads off many of those calls.
A monthly Visa Bulletin routine for your firm
Any firm with clients waiting on a priority date needs the same routine every month.
Keep one waiting-client list
One row per client, including past clients whose petitions are still waiting. Record the preference category, country of chargeability, priority date, whether the client plans to adjust status in the United States or process through a consulate abroad, any derivative family members, the responsible attorney and the client's preferred language.
When the bulletin publishes
- Open the new bulletin on travel.state.gov.
- For each client, read the correct row and column on both charts and record both results.
- Note which categories advanced, stayed the same or retrogressed since last month, and read the notes.
When USCIS designates the chart
- Check the USCIS chart page for the family-sponsored and employment-based designations.
- Mark each adjustment client's result under the designated chart.
- Sort the list: newly current, current but not yet filed, still waiting, and retrogressed.
Act on each result
| Result this month | Firm action |
|---|---|
| Newly current under the designated chart | Attorney review, document request in the client's language, filing target on the calendar |
| Current, not yet filed | Find out what is holding it up, escalate to the attorney and set a date |
| Date advanced, client still waiting | Log it, and send an attorney-approved update if the attorney wants one |
| No movement | Log the check so the record shows the client was reviewed |
| Retrogressed | Attorney review of every affected client, and an approved explanation sent before clients hear it elsewhere |
| Consular processing client now current | Attorney reviews next steps under the State Department's instructions |
Close the loop
Record who checked the bulletin, when, and what changed. A written log answers the question every attorney eventually asks: did we check this client last month?
The Visa Bulletin and the USCIS chart page are the official sources. Attorneys should confirm current dates and the designated chart on travel.state.gov and uscis.gov before advising a client or filing anything.
How VoxCross runs the monthly check
VoxCross Visa Bulletin alerts run this routine every month. VoxCross checks each waiting client's category, country and priority date against the new bulletin and marks the chart USCIS designated. Matches go to the attorney for review, and nothing reaches a client until the attorney approves it.
Clients who call the status line verify their identity and hear the attorney-approved update in English or Spanish, and the document chase starts with photo uploads from the client's phone. The bulletin check runs alongside notice reading and expiration tracking in Case Watch, and past-client eligibility scans look through closed files for former clients who may now qualify for something new, with outreach only after attorney approval.
VoxCross never gives legal advice. It surfaces matches and marks the designated chart; the attorney decides whether and when a client files.
The bulletin is one line on a larger calendar: see the immigration deadline calendar every firm should keep, and our guide to "any news on my case?" calls for keeping waiting clients informed.
See it on a 30-minute demo
Want to see a month's bulletin checked against a waiting-client list, with the designated chart marked and matches routed to the attorney? Book a 30-minute demo.