If you have never looked at a Visa Bulletin before, the tables full of dates, category codes, and country names can look intimidating. This beginner’s guide breaks down exactly how to find your row, read your cut-off date, and understand what it means for your green card timeline.
Start With Two Questions
Before you open the bulletin, answer two questions: what category is your petition in (for example F2A, EB-2, or immediate relative), and what is your country of chargeability, which is usually your country of birth, not your citizenship or residence. These two facts tell you exactly which row and column to look at.
Understanding the Two Charts
Each month’s bulletin actually contains two separate tables for both family-sponsored and employment-based categories: Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing. Final Action Dates tells you when a green card can actually be approved and a visa number issued. Dates for Filing tells you the earliest date you may submit your application, often months before a visa is truly available. USCIS announces each month which chart applies to adjustment of status applicants, and it can differ between family and employment categories.
Reading a Row and Column
Find your preference category down the left side of the table, then move across to the column matching your country of chargeability, using the “All Other Countries” column if your country is not separately listed. The date shown is the cut-off: if your priority date is earlier than that cut-off, you are considered current for that category and month.
What “C” and “U” Mean
Instead of a date, some cells show a letter. “C” means current, so numbers are available to everyone in that category and country regardless of priority date. “U” means unavailable, meaning no visa numbers are being issued in that row for that month at all, usually because the annual limit has already been reached.
A Worked Example
Suppose your F2A priority date is March 2023 and you were born in Mexico. You would look at the F2A row, Mexico column, in the chart USCIS says applies for family cases that month. If the listed cut-off is later than March 2023, you are current and can move forward with the next step, whether that is filing or attending an interview.
Checking Your Category Every Month
Cut-off dates can move forward, stay flat, or retrogress backward from one month to the next, especially in high-demand categories, so it is worth checking the new bulletin as soon as it is released, typically in the second or third week of the preceding month. Bookmarking the official page and reviewing your specific row is more useful than trying to track every category at once.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if my country is not listed in the table?
If your country of birth does not have its own column, use the “All Other Countries” column, which applies to the vast majority of countries worldwide.
Does my current address or citizenship affect which column I use?
No. Chargeability is generally based on country of birth, not where you currently live or hold citizenship, with limited exceptions such as certain cases involving a spouse’s country of birth.
How often does the Visa Bulletin update?
The Department of State publishes a new Visa Bulletin every month, usually in the second or third week, covering the following month’s cut-off dates.
Final Thoughts
Reading the Visa Bulletin becomes far less confusing once you know your category, your country column, and which of the two charts currently applies to your case. For a detailed walkthrough using real cut-off dates, see our Visa Bulletin July 2025 breakdown, and always confirm the current month’s figures on the Department of State’s official Visa Bulletin page.