Understanding Visa Bulletin and What it Means for Filing of Green Card Applications

The Visa Bulletin provides a monthly summary of the immigrant visa availability forecast. It indicates whether family and employment-based visa categories are up-to-date or experiencing delays. The dates of the Visa Bulletin are crucial in determining eligibility for filing of Permanent Resident Applications (AOS) or for filing of immigrant visas. Every month, DOS and USCIS work together to release this bulletin. It includes a Final Action Chart, which determines when immigrant visas can be approved, and a Dates for Filing Chart, projecting which priority dates are expected to be current within the fiscal year, which determines who can file for immigrant visas or green cards.

For the months of October and November 2023, USCIS has directed that individuals should refer to the Dates for Filing Chart to understand if they can submit their family and employment-based adjustment of status applications. The Visa Bulletin for November 2023 for the most part remains unchanged from October 2023.

The October and November 2023 Visa Bulletins continued the retrogression initially seen in the May 2023 bulletin. Despite anticipations that the new fiscal year would make current final action dates for worldwide EB-2 and EB-3 categories, it was unprecedented that both began the year with established cutoff dates instead.

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has prepared the following flyer to explain the Visa Bulletin.

If you need to schedule an immigration consultation, feel free to contact our office.