How to read the Visa Bulletin in 2026 - priority dates, charts, and what current means

Learning how to read the Visa Bulletin is the difference between guessing your green card timeline and actually planning around it. The bulletin tells you whether the U.S. government has a visa number ready for your category and country, which is what controls whether you can file (or finish) your green card right now. This guide walks through the bulletin's two charts, the country columns, the "C" and "U" codes, and a worked example so you can find your own status on the next monthly release.

Update, May 2026 USCIS policy memo. On May 21, 2026, USCIS issued memo PM-602-0199. Form I-485 adjustment of status inside the U.S. is now treated as a discretionary form of relief reserved for cases with "unusual or outstanding equities," not an automatic next step once a visa number is available. The heightened standard applies to every pending I-485, regardless of when it was filed. Consular processing abroad is positioned as the default green card path going forward.

What this means for the Visa Bulletin: the bulletin still controls when you are eligible to file an I-485 (or move forward at the consulate). It no longer controls whether USCIS will approve an I-485 once filed. Approval now depends on a separate discretionary review of your full record. If you are weighing filing an I-485 vs going through a consulate abroad, see our consular processing vs adjustment of status guide.

Last reviewed: May 25, 2026.

What is the Visa Bulletin and when does it come out?

The Visa Bulletin is a monthly report published by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, that shows green card visa availability by preference category and country. The State Department releases it roughly 2 to 3 weeks before the start of the next month, so the June bulletin usually appears in mid-May, the July bulletin in mid-June, and so on. You can pull each month's bulletin from the official State Department Visa Bulletin page.

Two things matter about that timing: the bulletin only governs the upcoming month, not the current one, and USCIS posts a separate notice each month confirming which of the two charts applies for Form I-485 adjustment-of-status filings. As of the May 2026 USCIS memo flagged above, that chart only controls whether you can file an I-485, not whether USCIS will approve it. We'll get to both shortly.

How to read the Visa Bulletin step by step

Reading the bulletin is a four-step process: find your category, find your country column, compare it to your priority date, and confirm which chart USCIS is using this month. Done in that order, the bulletin stops feeling like a wall of dates and starts answering one specific question: can I move forward with my green card this month?

Step 1: find your employment-based category (EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, EB-4, EB-5)

Scroll to the section titled "Employment-Based Preferences" in the bulletin. This is the table that matters for Tukki readers. It lists five rows, one per employment-based category: EB-1 (priority workers), EB-2 (advanced degree professionals and the EB-2 National Interest Waiver), EB-3 (skilled and other workers), EB-4 (special immigrants), and EB-5 (investors). The bulletin also publishes family-based preference categories above this section, but those aren't relevant to employment-based filers and we won't cover them here.

Find the row that matches your I-140 petition. If you have an approved EB-2 NIW, you're in the EB-2 row. If you have an approved EB-1A or EB-1B, you're in the EB-1 row.

Step 2: find your country column

Each employment-based row has six columns: "All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed," China-mainland born, El Salvador / Guatemala / Honduras (which is currently grouped together), India, Mexico, and Philippines. The country column tracks your "country of chargeability," which usually means your country of birth, not your country of citizenship. If you were born in India but hold Canadian citizenship, you're in the India column.

The "All Chargeability Areas" column is the fastest-moving and applies to most countries that aren't broken out. India and China are broken out because demand from those countries far exceeds the 7% per-country cap, which we'll cover further down.

Step 3: compare your priority date to the cutoff date

The cell at the intersection of your row and column shows the cutoff date for that category and country. Compare it to your own priority date (we'll show you where to find that in a moment). The rule is simple: if your priority date is earlier than the cutoff date in the cell, your priority date is "current" and a visa number is available for you. If your priority date is later than (or equal to) the cutoff date, you're still waiting.

For example, if the EB-2 India cell on the Final Action Dates chart shows "01JAN2013" and your priority date is October 5, 2012, you're current. If your priority date is February 15, 2013, you're not current yet.

Step 4: check which chart USCIS is using this month

The State Department publishes two charts each month: Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing. For Form I-485 adjustment of status, USCIS decides each month which chart applies. USCIS posts that decision on its visa availability and priority dates page, usually within a day or two of the bulletin's release. Always check that page before assuming which chart governs your filing.

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Final Action Dates vs Dates for Filing

The Visa Bulletin always shows two charts side by side, and the difference between them is the most common source of confusion. Both list cutoff dates, but they serve different purposes and apply at different points in the green card process.

For consular processing abroad, the DOS National Visa Center generally uses the Dates for Filing chart to schedule interviews and the Final Action Dates chart to issue the immigrant visa. For Form I-485 adjustment of status inside the U.S., USCIS picks one of the two charts each month and posts which one applies on uscis.gov.

The big point: the Dates for Filing chart is usually ahead of the Final Action Dates chart, so when USCIS uses it for I-485 filings, more people can get into line earlier. When USCIS uses the Final Action Dates chart for filings, fewer people can file. Both charts can shift month to month.

What is a priority date in the Visa Bulletin?

Your priority date is your place in line for an employment-based green card. It's the anchor every reading of the Visa Bulletin depends on, since the bulletin's whole job is to tell you whether your priority date has reached the front of the queue.

How USCIS sets your priority date

For employment-based cases that require PERM Labor Certification (most EB-2 and EB-3 cases), the priority date is the date the Department of Labor received the PERM application (Form ETA-9089). For employment-based cases that don't require PERM (EB-1A, EB-1B, EB-2 NIW, and most EB-1 multinational manager cases), the priority date is the date USCIS received the I-140 immigrant petition. EB-5 investor priority dates are the I-526 receipt date.

Once your priority date is set, it stays the same even if you later switch employers, port your I-140 to a different category, or refile. That's why protecting your earliest possible priority date matters: an earlier date moves you further forward in the queue.

Where to find your priority date on your I-797 receipt notice

Your priority date appears on the I-797 receipt or approval notice for your I-140 (or your PERM if PERM came first). It's usually labeled "Priority Date" and written in DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY format. If you can't find it on the I-797, your immigration attorney or your USCIS online account dashboard will show it.

For more on the I-140 itself and how priority dates attach to it, see our Form I-140 guide.

Employment-based preference categories explained

The bulletin's employment-based section runs from EB-1 down to EB-5, and the categories move at very different speeds depending on demand. Knowing which category you're in tells you which row to read, and roughly what to expect for the waiting time.

EB-1 priority workers

EB-1 covers extraordinary ability (EB-1A), outstanding researchers and professors (EB-1B), and multinational managers and executives (EB-1C). EB-1 is generally the fastest-moving employment-based category because it has the lowest demand outside India and China. For the all-other-countries column, EB-1 is often current. For India and China, EB-1 still moves but at a slower pace. The relevant pillar for self-petitioned EB-1A cases is our EB-1A visa guide.

EB-2 advanced degree professionals and NIW

EB-2 covers professionals with advanced degrees, individuals of exceptional ability, and EB-2 NIW self-petitioners (advanced degree work in the U.S. national interest). EB-2 typically has more demand than EB-1, especially from India and China where waits stretch into years. The relevant pillar for NIW filers is our EB-2 NIW visa guide, and our how to apply for an EB-2 NIW guide walks through the filing itself.

EB-3 skilled and other workers

EB-3 covers skilled workers (jobs requiring at least two years of training or experience), professionals (jobs requiring a bachelor's degree), and other workers (jobs requiring less than two years). EB-3 cutoff dates often move differently from EB-2 in the same country, and some applicants strategically downgrade from EB-2 to EB-3 when EB-3 is ahead, or upgrade in the other direction. The decision logic sits in our PERM EB-2 or EB-3 guide.

EB-4 special immigrants

EB-4 covers special immigrant categories like religious workers and certain abused or neglected juveniles. EB-4 isn't a typical employment-based filing for Tukki readers, but it appears in the bulletin and follows the same chart structure as the other categories. Most professional workers won't sit in this row.

EB-5 investors

EB-5 covers the immigrant investor program. Cutoff dates for EB-5 depend on the specific program (unreserved versus reserved set-asides for rural, high-unemployment, or infrastructure investments), and the bulletin lists those sub-categories separately. EB-5 is outside the scope of this guide beyond noting that it occupies the bottom row of the employment-based section.

The bulletin also publishes family-based preference categories (F1, F2A, F2B, F3, and F4) above the employment-based section, but Tukki works exclusively with employment-based cases. If you're a family-based filer, USCIS publishes its own filing chart for that section.

What do C and U mean in the Visa Bulletin?

Most cells in the bulletin show a specific date (like "08DEC2019"), but two letter codes appear in place of dates: "C" and "U." Knowing what each one means is the difference between thinking your case is stuck and realizing you're free to file.

"C" stands for "Current." It means visa numbers are immediately available for your category and country, and your priority date doesn't matter for purposes of moving forward. If the cell at your row and column says C, you can file your I-485 (or move forward at the consulate) as soon as the rest of the filing is ready, subject to which chart USCIS is using for that month. For an I-485, "current" gets you in the door for filing. Final approval is a separate discretionary review under the May 2026 USCIS memo.

"U" stands for "Unavailable." It means no visa numbers are available at all for your category and country in that month, regardless of your priority date. U is rare in the employment-based section but happens at the end of a fiscal year when annual quotas run out. The fiscal year for visa allocation runs October 1 to September 30, so any U status usually resets in October when the new fiscal year begins.

How the 7% per-country cap shapes the Visa Bulletin

The 7% per-country cap is the reason India and China see employment-based waits that stretch into years while the same categories are current for most other countries. Congress wrote a rule that no single country can use more than 7% of the annual employment-based green card quota in a given year. Because India and China have far more applicants than 7% would allow, their priority dates lag behind everyone else's.

Why India and China see the longest waits

India in particular has tens of thousands more EB-2 and EB-3 applicants than the 7% cap allows each year, so the backlog grows faster than the visa numbers can clear it. For Indian-born EB-2 applicants, current waits commonly run more than a decade. Some of that backlog can be reduced by spillover (unused visa numbers from other categories or other countries flowing into the oversubscribed columns), which is why the India and China dates move in unpredictable jumps month to month. For a country-specific deep dive into EB-1, see our EB-1 processing time for India guide.

Worked example: reading the May 2026 employment-based chart

Walking through one row makes the whole bulletin click. Pick the EB-2 India row on the May 2026 Final Action Dates chart. Suppose the May 2026 EB-2 India cell shows "01NOV2013" on the Final Action Dates chart and "01JAN2014" on the Dates for Filing chart, and suppose USCIS posts that the Dates for Filing chart is in effect for I-485 filings this month.

Now apply it to two example applicants. Applicant A has an Indian priority date of October 10, 2013. Their date is earlier than both the Final Action Date (November 1, 2013) and the Dates for Filing date (January 1, 2014), so they're current under either chart. With USCIS using the Dates for Filing chart this month, Applicant A can file Form I-485 right now if they're inside the U.S., or move forward at the consulate if they're abroad.

Applicant B has an Indian priority date of December 15, 2013. Their date is after the Final Action Date (November 1, 2013) but before the Dates for Filing date (January 1, 2014). Because USCIS announced that the Dates for Filing chart applies this month, Applicant B can file the I-485 now, even though they're not yet current on Final Action Dates. They won't get final approval until the Final Action Date catches up to December 15, 2013, but the filing puts them in the queue and unlocks Employment Authorization Documents and Advance Parole while they wait. That's exactly why which chart USCIS uses matters so much.

Tukki is a U.S. immigration provider focused on employment-based green cards, including EB-1A extraordinary ability, EB-2 NIW, and PERM-based EB-2 and EB-3 cases. Our licensed immigration attorneys track priority dates with you, handle the I-140 and I-485 filings, and give you a clear view of where your case sits on the Visa Bulletin at every step.

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