How to Read the Visa Bulletin: A 2026 Guide for Beneficiaries

A 2026 reader's guide to the State Department visa bulletin

The visa bulletin is the most consequential one-page PDF in family- and employment-based immigration. Every month the U.S. Department of State publishes priority date cutoffs that decide who can take the next concrete step toward a green card — submitting Form I-485, attending a consular interview, or finally being approved. Read it wrong and you wait a year for the next opportunity; read it right and you protect your spot in line, lock in CSPA age, and keep your case moving.

This guide walks through the two charts, the country and category structure, what to do when dates retrogress, and the most common mistakes Mendoza Immigration attorneys see clients make.

The two charts: Final Action vs. Dates for Filing

Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1255) requires that an immigrant visa number be "immediately available" when USCIS approves an I-485 adjustment of status application. Whether a number is available depends on the per-country and per-category numerical caps in INA §§ 201-203 (8 U.S.C. §§ 1151-1153). The bulletin translates those caps into two cutoff dates per cell:

• Final Action Dates (Chart A) — the date that controls when USCIS or a U.S. consulate can actually approve and issue the green card. If your priority date is earlier than the Final Action Date for your category and country, a visa number is available today.
• Dates for Filing (Chart B) — a later date that lets you start the adjustment process by filing the I-485 even though the number is not yet immediately available. USCIS decides each month whether to honor Chart B.

Consular processing abroad always uses Final Action Dates. The Dates for Filing chart only matters for I-485 filers inside the United States, and only in the months USCIS expressly designates it.

How to find the chart USCIS is honoring this month

Around the 10th of each month USCIS posts a page titled "When to File Your Adjustment of Status Application" with a single instruction per visa category: use Final Action Dates, or use Dates for Filing. That page controls. The bulletin itself does not — the State Department prints both charts every month, but only one is open for I-485 acceptance.

A typical month in 2026 looks like this:

1. State Department releases the bulletin in the second week of the prior month.
2. USCIS announces by the 10th of the prior month which chart is active for adjustment.
3. Approvals (USCIS or consular) follow the Final Action Dates beginning the first day of the bulletin month.

Set a recurring calendar reminder for the 10th. Missing a one-month window can mean a year of waiting.

Categories and country of chargeability

The bulletin is a grid: rows are preference categories, columns are countries.

Family preferences (F):

• F1 — unmarried adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
• F2A — spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents
• F2B — unmarried adult sons and daughters of LPRs
• F3 — married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
• F4 — siblings of U.S. citizens

Employment preferences (EB):

• EB-1 — priority workers (extraordinary ability, outstanding researchers, multinational managers)
• EB-2 — advanced-degree professionals and individuals of exceptional ability (including NIW)
• EB-3 — skilled workers, professionals, and other workers
• EB-4 — special immigrants
• EB-5 — investors

Columns are "All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed," China, India, Mexico, and Philippines. Your country of chargeability is usually your country of birth, not your country of citizenship. Cross-chargeability under INA § 202(b) lets a spouse or child borrow the other spouse's country if it has a shorter line — a meaningful tactic for Indian and Chinese EB-2/EB-3 cases.

Reading your priority date

Your priority date is printed on the I-797 receipt or approval notice for the underlying petition:

• Family cases: the date USCIS received your I-130.
• PERM-based EB-2/EB-3: the date the Department of Labor accepted your PERM ETA-9089.
• EB-1, EB-2 NIW, EB-5: the date USCIS received your I-140 or I-526.

Write it down once and keep it. Every month, compare it to the active chart cutoff for your category and country.

Retrogression: when dates move backward

When demand outstrips the annual numerical cap, the bulletin retrogresses — the cutoff date moves earlier, sometimes by years. Retrogression is uncomfortable but not fatal.

• A pending I-485 stays pending. USCIS cannot adjudicate to approval while the date is retrogressed, but it does not reject the case. EAD and advance parole renewals continue.
• New filings stop until the date moves forward again.
• Medicals, civil documents, and translations should be staged now so you can file the moment the date becomes current again.

CSPA: protecting a child's age

The Child Status Protection Act, INA § 203(h) (8 U.S.C. § 1153(h)), freezes a derivative child's age while the underlying petition is pending. Whether CSPA protection applies, and which chart governs the sought-to-acquire deadline, has been the subject of the USCIS Policy Manual 7 USCIS-PM A.7 update of February 2023 — which now uses the Dates for Filing chart to determine CSPA age when that chart is in effect for adjustment of status. Track your child's 21st birthday against the CSPA calculation, not the calendar.

Five pitfalls our attorneys see most often

1. Reading Chart A when USCIS is honoring Chart B (or vice versa). Always check the USCIS announcement, not the bulletin alone.
2. Filing the wrong country column because of cross-chargeability. A U.S.-born child of Indian parents is "All Other," not "India."
3. Letting medicals expire. A Form I-693 medical is valid for two years from the civil surgeon signature. Time the exam to the active chart, not the bulletin print date.
4. Forgetting the CSPA sought-to-acquire deadline — generally one year from visa availability. Document the steps you take to act on availability.
5. Skipping a monthly check. Cases die because a client did not realize a one-month filing window opened and closed.

What to do this month

Pull up the current bulletin and the USCIS adjustment-filing chart. Find your row and column. If your priority date is earlier than the active cutoff, file the I-485 (or instruct your consular post) before the month ends. If you are within twelve months of becoming current, start medical, civil document, and translation prep now.

Mendoza Immigration tracks every bulletin and proactively flags clients whose dates move. This article is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. For a case-specific opinion, schedule a consultation.