How to Read the State Department "Visa Bulletin"

By: Gary Chodorow
Revised: July 6, 2006

To become a lawful permanent resident (i.e., get a green card), you need an immigrant visa number. The U.S. immigration law sets quotas for how many immigrant visa numbers are available each year. The "Visa Bulletin" is a monthly publication of the U.S. State Department showing the availability of immigrant visa numbers.

Is an immigrant visa number immediately available to me?

To be issued an immigrant visa by a U.S. Consulate or to apply for or be granted adjustment of status by USCIS, an immigrant visa number must be immediately available.

By looking at the Visa Bulletin, you can determine whether a number is available immediately or you have to wait. You need to know the following information about your case: (1) your preference category, (2) your chargeability area, and (3) your priority date.

Look at the Visa Bulletin to find the entry for your preference category and chargeability area. The date shown there is called the "cut-off date." If your priority date is earlier than the cut-off date, then an immigrant visa is immediately available. The following entries may appear instead of a cut-off date:

• "U" (Unavailable): This means that no visas are available for this preference category and chargeability area this month.
• "C" (Current): This means immigrant visas immediately available for all priority dates.

What is my preference category?

The Form I-797 approval notice issued by USCIS for your immigrant petition should list your preference category. The preference categories for employment-based immigrant visas include:

• 1st preference: Aliens with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives and managers.
• 2nd preference: Aliens who are members of the professions holding advanced degrees and aliens of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business.
• 3rd preference: Professionals with bachelor's degrees, skilled workers (with two or more years of work experience), and other workers.
• Schedule A Workers: Employment 1st, 2nd, and 3rd preference applicants on the U.S. Department of Labor's "Schedule A" are entitled to up to 50,000 “recaptured” numbers.
• 4th preference: Special immigrants, including ministers and other religious workers. Other religious workers. may claim no more than 5,000 numbers a year.
• 5th preference: Immigrant investors.

The preference categories for family-sponsored immigrant visas include:

• 1st preference: Unmarried adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens.
• 2A preference: Spouses and unmarried children under 21 years old of lawful permanent residents.
• 2B preference: Unmarried sons and daughters over 21 years old of lawful permanent residents.
• 3rd preference: Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens.
• 4th preference: Brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens.

Absent from the family-sponsored preference categories listed on the Visa Bulleting are "immediate relatives," meaning a U.S. citizen's spouse, unmarried children under 21 years old, and parents. Since immediate relatives are not subject to quotas, there is no waiting list for them.

What is my chargeability area?

Your chargeability area is generally your country of birth. However, there are four exceptions to this rule: (1) If you are accompanying or following to join your spouse, you may be charged to your spouse's country. (2) A child may be charged to the state of either parent whom they are accompanying or following to join. (3) If you were born in a country where neither parent was born or resided, you may be charged to the country of either parent. (4) If you were previously a U.S. citizen but lost your citizenship, you are charged to the country of your current citizenship or, if you have no citizenship, to your country of last residence.

What is my priority date?

Your priority date should also be shown on the Form I-797 approval notice for your immigrant petition issued by USCIS. It is the date that your immigrant petition was received by USCIS, or the date your labor certification application was received by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Can I use the priority date from a prior immigrant petition?

If you have a prior approved employment-based 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd preference immigrant petition, you can use that priority date for purposes of immigrating on the basis of any subsequent employment-based 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd preference immigrant petition.

In the event that you were registered as a Western Hemisphere immigrant with a priority date prior to January 11, 1977, you may use that priority date for the purpose of any preference petition subsequently approved on your behalf.

What are the quotas for immigrant visas?

The fiscal year 2006 limit for employment-based preference immigrants is 143,949. They are allocated as follows:

• 1st preference: 28.6% of the total, plus any numbers not required for 4th and 5th preferences.
• 2nd preference: 28.6% of the total, plus any numbers not required by 1st preference.
• 3rd preference: 28.6% of the total, plus any numbers not required by 1st and 2nd preferences, but not more than 10,000 to “other workers.”
• Schedule A Workers: Entitled to up to 50,000 “recaptured” numbers.
• 4th preference: 7.1% of the total.
• 5th preference: 7.1% of the total, not less than 3,000 of which reserved for investors in a targeted rural or high-unemployment area, and 3,000 set aside for investors in regional centers.

• 1st preference: 23,400 plus any numbers not required for 4th preference.
•  2nd preference: 114,200, plus the number (if any) by which the total exceeds 226,000, and any unused 1st preference numbers.

• 2A:  77% of the overall 2nd preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit.
• 2B: 23% of the overall 2nd preference limitation.

• 3rd preference: 23,400, plus any numbers not required by 1st and 2nd preferences.
• 4th preference: 65,000, plus any numbers not required by 1st, 2nd, and 3rd preferences.