The Visa Bulletin is the Department of State's monthly chart that decides when a family preference green card case can move forward. This page explains the two charts, the family categories, and what to do when your date is current.
Each month the Department of State publishes cutoff dates for every family and employment preference category. If your priority date is earlier than the cutoff for your category and country, a visa number is available and USCIS or the consulate can finish your case. If it is later, you wait, no matter how long ago USCIS approved the petition. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are not on the chart and never wait for a visa number. Read the current chart on the official State Department Visa Bulletin.
The bulletin has two charts for family cases. Final Action Dates is the chart that controls when a green card can actually be approved or an immigrant visa issued. Dates for Filing runs ahead of it and tells consular applicants when to send documents to the National Visa Center. For applicants inside the United States, USCIS announces every month which chart adjustment of status filers may use; when USCIS allows the Dates for Filing chart, an I-485 can be filed earlier, which unlocks a work permit and travel document while the case waits for a final action date. Always check the USCIS chart announcement before filing.
| Category | Relationship | Typical wait pattern in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| F1 | Unmarried adult (21+) sons and daughters of U.S. citizens | Multi-year backlog; longer for Mexico and the Philippines |
| F2A | Spouses and unmarried children under 21 of permanent residents | Current or near current for much of 2026; the shortest family preference wait |
| F2B | Unmarried adult sons and daughters of permanent residents | Multi-year backlog; very long for Mexico |
| F3 | Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens | Roughly a decade or more; longest for Mexico and the Philippines |
| F4 | Brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens | Fifteen years or more; longest for Mexico, the Philippines, and India |
A category marked "C" (current) means every priority date is available that month. A date means only applicants with a priority date earlier than that date can move forward. "U" means unavailable for the month. Employment-based rows appear on the same bulletin; Modern Law Group lists them only as reference data and does not handle employment-based cases.
For family cases the priority date is the date USCIS received the I-130 petition. It is printed on the Form I-797 receipt notice and again on the approval notice. If a family member filed years ago, that old petition may still hold a valuable priority date even if circumstances changed; in some situations a priority date from an earlier petition can be kept for a later one. Check the date on the notice, not the date the form was signed or mailed, and compare it against your category and country of birth, not your country of citizenship.
Inside the United States with a lawful entry, file the I-485 adjustment package promptly, usually with the I-765 and I-131. Abroad, the National Visa Center will request fees and civil documents, then schedule the consular interview. Dates can retrogress, meaning a later bulletin moves the cutoff backward, so a complete application filed the month the date is current protects your place. Have the I-864 Affidavit of Support, civil documents, translations, and photos ready before the date arrives. Applicants with an unlawful presence history, a prior removal order, or a criminal record should get legal advice before filing anything.
USCIS processing times and the Visa Bulletin are two separate waits. The petition can be approved in about a year and then wait years for a visa number. Our family sponsorship green card timeline shows how the two combine by category, the green card processing time calculator adds the current bulletin wait to a processing estimate, the USCIS processing times tracker shows current form-level estimates, and the F2A wait time calculator covers spouses and children of permanent residents.
Our focus: Modern Law Group represents families in family-based petitions, asylum, detention and bond, deportation defense, and citizenship. We do not handle employment-based immigration.
If your priority date is close, current, or has retrogressed, an attorney can confirm which chart applies, whether a child is protected from aging out, and what to file now. Family, F2A, and immediate relative consultations available nationwide.
Schedule a Consultation — (888) 902-9285This page is educational. Visa Bulletin movement cannot be predicted with certainty, and nothing here is a guarantee of when any case will move. Check the official bulletin and USCIS announcements each month.
