About Priority Dates and Cut-Off Numbers

Priority Dates are cut-off numbers that determine Immigrant Visa (permanent visa, or green card) availability in the numerically limited United States Immigrant Visa (IV) categories.

Generally, Priority Dates are the filing dates of applications or petitions toward US immigrant status. That is, they are the date a US government agency receives this application or petition. A priority date may be the filing date of an approved PERM Labor Certification application. Or a priority date may be the filing date of an I-130 immigrant relative petition or an I-140 immigrant petition. You can find your Priority Date on your PERM receipt or your I-130 or I-140 receipt notice (Form I-797), whichever is applicable.

The Department of State Visa Office (VO) publishes the monthly Visa Bulletin around the 8th of each month. The Visa Bulletin lists cut-off dates for a particular time frame. These charts include: Employment-Based Priority dates (EB), Family-Based Priority dates (FB) and DV Green Card Lottery Cut-Off numbers.