Priority Dates: Your Place in Line for a US Green Card

Look at your Form I-797 receipt or approval notice from USCIS. The "Priority Date" box shows it. For employment cases with a PERM labor certification, the priority date on the I-140 approval should match the date DOL received the PERM.

If you are processing through the National Visa Center, your priority date also appears in NVC's welcome letter and in the Consular Electronic Application Center.

Each month, the Visa Bulletin lists a cutoff date for each category and country. Your date is current when it is earlier than the listed date, or when the chart shows "C."

There are two charts. The Final Action Dates chart decides when a green card can be approved. The Dates for Filing chart lets you start paperwork earlier in some months. Our Visa Bulletin tracker shows current dates and how each line has moved over time.

• After I-140 approval: you generally keep your priority date for future employment petitions, even if you change jobs, unless the I-140 is revoked for fraud, misrepresentation, or a material error. If the employer withdraws an approved I-140 after 180 days, it still counts for priority date purposes.
• Changing categories: if you qualify for a better category (for example, from EB-3 to EB-2), a new I-140 in that category can often use your older priority date. This is called "porting."
• A new employer usually must file a new PERM and I-140, but your old priority date carries over once you have an approved I-140.
• H-1B workers with an approved I-140 can extend H-1B status in 3-year steps beyond the 6-year limit while waiting.

See PERM labor certification for how the employment process starts.

Family preference categories can change automatically, and your priority date usually moves with you:

In a few cases, moving from F2B to F1 would mean a longer wait (for example, for some Filipino applicants). The law lets the beneficiary choose to stay in F2B.

Children must be under 21 to qualify as "children." The Child Status Protection Act (CSPA) can freeze or reduce a child's age for immigration purposes. In general, CSPA age is the child's age when a visa became available, minus the time the petition was pending. The child must also take steps to get the green card within 1 year of the visa becoming available.

How USCIS calculates CSPA age has changed in recent years. If a child in your case is close to 21, have a licensed immigration lawyer do the calculation.

• Keep copies of all I-797 notices; you may need them years later.
• File petitions early. A priority date only starts when the petition is filed.
• Watch the bulletin each month, especially from July to October when dates often shift.
• Update your address with USCIS and the National Visa Center so you do not miss notices.
• When your date becomes current, act quickly, whether through adjustment of status or consular processing.