Glossary: Visa Bulletin and green card terms
- Priority date
- The date that fixes your place in the green card queue (usually the I-130 receipt date, the PERM filing date, or the I-140 receipt date).
- Final Action Date (FAD)
- The cut-off in the monthly Visa Bulletin: visa numbers can be allocated only to applicants whose priority date is earlier than this date.
- Date for Filing (DFF)
- A second, earlier cut-off in the bulletin showing when applicants may begin submitting documents; USCIS announces monthly whether adjustment applicants may use it.
- Current (C)
- A category with no cut-off: every priority date qualifies for a visa number.
- Unavailable (U)
- A category for which no visa numbers can currently be issued, typically because the annual limit was reached.
- Retrogression
- A cut-off date moving to an earlier date than in the previous bulletin, so some applicants who were within the cut-off no longer are.
- Chargeability
- The country to which an applicant’s visa number is charged—normally the country of birth, with exceptions such as cross-chargeability.
- Oversubscribed
- A category or country whose demand exceeds the available visa numbers, so a cut-off date is set instead of “Current”.
- Per-country limit
- No single country may receive more than 7% of total family and employment preference visas in a fiscal year; this is why China, India, Mexico and the Philippines have their own columns.
- Fiscal year (FY)
- The U.S. government year from 1 October to 30 September. Visa Bulletins for October–December of a calendar year belong to the next fiscal year (for example, October 2026 is FY2027).
- Adjustment of status (AOS)
- Applying for a green card from inside the United States, filed with USCIS on Form I-485.
- Consular processing
- Applying for an immigrant visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad after the National Visa Center (NVC) stage.
- NVC
- The National Visa Center, which collects documents and fees for immigrant visa cases before the consular interview.
- EB-1 / EB-2 / EB-3
- Employment-based preference categories: EB-1 priority workers, EB-2 advanced-degree professionals and persons of exceptional ability, EB-3 skilled workers, professionals and other workers.
- F1 / F2A / F2B / F3 / F4
- Family-sponsored preference categories: F1 unmarried adult children of citizens; F2A spouses and minor children of permanent residents; F2B unmarried adult children of permanent residents; F3 married children of citizens; F4 siblings of adult citizens.