How to Determine Your Priority Date for Immigration Purposes

Certain categories of U.S. green card applicant must, after their initial visa petition is approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), wait for what's called their "priority date" to become current before continuing on with their application. Basically, that means that despite the fact that you'll eventually be eligible for U.S. lawful permanent residence, you must first wait until your number comes up on a waiting list. This owes to the fact that numerous immigrants are in line ahead of you, and that you're in a green card category that is subject to annual limits. Worldwide demand for U.S. immigrant visas tends to be high.

Here, we will discuss how that priority date is created and what it means for your immigration prospects.

Which Green Card Seekers Must Be Put on a Waiting List by "Priority Date"?

Not everyone immigrating to the United States faces numerical limits or a wait (other than the often lengthy time it takes to get through the application process itself). For example, green card applicants in the "immediate relative" category (parents, spouses, and minor children of a U.S. citizen) receive unlimited numbers of visas annually. And sometimes demand for visas is low enough that even in other categories, no waiting list develops.

The people who will be given priority dates, and potentially face a wait, include others in the family-based visa categories, and nearly everyone in the employment-based preference categories. Their initial visa petition would ordinarily have been filed by either:

• their family member on USCIS Form I-130 ("Petition for Alien Relative"), or
• by an employer on USCIS Form I-140 ("Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers") following a successful application for labor certification.

Certain highly qualified employees can self-file the Form I-140 petition, without needing an employer-sponsor. And certain family-based visa applicants can also self-petition, namely spouses and children of abusive U.S. citizens and permanent residents, who can, under the VAWA Act, file using USCIS Form I-360.

Once someone has a priority date, it's a matter of tracking it, month by month. Only when your priority date becomes "current" can you take the next step: which is to either:

• apply to USCIS for adjustment of status if you are already in the United States in legal status or otherwise eligible to use the adjustment of status procedure, or
• apply for an immigrant visa at an U.S. Embassy or Consulate in your home country.

Both procedural methods can, assuming all goes well, lead to U.S. permanent residence (a green card). In the latter case, however, you do not actually become a U.S. resident (permanent or conditional) until you use your immigrant visa to enter the United States.

On What Basis Is a Priority Date Generated?

The priority date is the date upon which either:

• the U.S. Department of Labor received the labor certification application filed (in most cases) by your U.S. employer
• U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received the completed Form I-130 visa petition filed by your U.S. citizen or permanent resident family member
• in the case of employment-based self-petitioners, when USCIS first received the Form I-140, or
• in the case of family-based VAWA applicants, when USCIS first received the Form I-360.

If the visa petition or labor certification was incomplete when first filed, however, it will be returned to the petitioner and the priority date will be delayed until a proper filing has been completed.

Where You'll Find Your Priority Date

If the visa petition for your green card is approved, USCIS will issue its approval on Form I-797, "Notice of Action." Your Form I-797 will contain your priority date.

Checking on the Progress of Your Priority Date

To see what priority dates are becoming "current" at any particular time (meaning that people with those dates are now becoming eligible for immigrant visas/green cards), check the Visa Bulletin that's published by the U.S. State Department every month.

It shows a list of visa cutoff dates in every category. In some cases, the categories are also broken down by country, due to the fact that there are per-country limits on visas, and the demand from those countries is especially high. This is usually true for China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines.

If the Visa Bulletin shows "C" or "current" under your application category and your country of citizenship, it means that there are visas available under the said category for your country and you should either expect to see correspondence from the National Visa Center (NVC) soon or should, if you're adjusting status, prepare and submit your green card application.

If the Visa Bulletin doesn't have a "C" but instead shows a date for your category and country, it means that all the people whose priority dates are prior to that date can apply for an immigrant visa under that category. So, when you see a date that's later than your own priority date, get ready to apply for your immigrant visa and green card.

There's one more thing to know if you are in the United States and will be adjusting status. USCIS sometimes lets people submit their applications before their priority date is actually current. Go to the Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin page of the USCIS website to find out. It might just show you the same dates as in the Visa Bulletin; or it might show you a separate, "Dates for Filing" chart, in which case you can take advantage of the early-filing possibility. And you'll need to be proactive about this; unlike people who are consular processing, people adjusting status shouldn't expect any official notice of their eligibility to move forward with their application.

If You Need Legal Help

Consult with an experienced U.S. immigration attorney to learn more about your priority date and the timeline on which you're likely to be able to proceed with your green card application. The attorney can also help you with the paperwork and application procedures for consular processing or adjustment of status and, if you're adjusting status, accompany you to your USCIS interview.