Current Filing Dates For Adjustment of Status Family and Employment-Based Applications
By Michael H.Markovitch on November, 18, 2016
ARE YOU SEEKING TO ADJUST YOUR STATUS AND BECOME A U.S. PERMANENT RESIDENT UNDER A FAMILY-SPONSORED OR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE IMMIGRANT VISA? IF YOU HAVE NOT YET HAD A RELATIVE OR EMPLOYER FILE AN IMMIGRANT VISA PETITION ON YOUR BEHALF, PLEASE LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS FILING PROCESS. IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A PETITION FILED OR APPROVED ON YOUR BEHALF, YOU MAY HAVE TO WAIT FOR AN AVAILABLE VISA IN YOUR CATEGORY (IF APPLICABLE) BEFORE YOU CAN FILE YOUR FORM I-485, APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR ADJUST STATUS. THIS PAGE WILL HELP YOU DETERMINE WHEN TO FILE YOUR ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS APPLICATION.
 
WHEN TO FILE
Use the Visa Bulletin charts below to determine when to file your adjustment of status application. To use the charts:
- Find your visa type in the first column (on the left) of the appropriate chart (Family-sponsored or Employment-based).
- Stay in that row and move directly to the right to find the corresponding date under the country of your birth (as listed in the boldface columns across the top).
- If the date on the chart is current (“C”) or your priority date is earlier than the date on the chart, you may file your adjustment of status application, if otherwise eligible to do so.
Your priority date is generally the date when your relative or employer properly filed the immigrant visa petition on your behalf with USCIS (https://www.immigrationlawyernewyork.com/blog/immigration-update-uscis-announces-filing-fee-increases.html). If a labor certification is required to be filed with your immigrant visa petition, the priority date is the date the labor certification application (https://www.immigrationlawyernewyork.com/blog/business-and-employment-based-immigrant-visa-categories.html) was accepted for processing by the Department of Labor.
December 2016
DATES FOR FILING FAMILY-SPONSORED ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS APPLICATIONS:
Family-Sponsored
All Chargeability
Areas Except Those Listed
CHINA-mainland born
INDIA
MEXICO
PHILIPPINES
F1
01JAN11
01JAN11
01JAN11
01JUN95
01MAY06
F2A
22NOV15
22NOV15
22NOV15
22NOV15
22NOV15
F2B
08FEB11
08FEB11
08FEB11
01JUN96
01FEB07
F3
22AUG05
22AUG05
22AUG05
01MAY95
01JAN95
F4
01JUL04
01JUL04
01MAY04
01DEC97
01APR94
DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED ADJUSTMENT OF STATUS APPLICATIONS:
Employment- Based
All Chargeability
Areas Except
Those Listed
CHINA-mainland
born
INDIA
MEXICO
PHILIPPINES
1ST
C
C
C
C
C
2nd
C
01MAR13
22APR09
C
C
3rd
C
01MAY14
01JUL05
C
01SEP13
Other Workers
C
01AUG09
01JUL05
C
01SEP13
4th
C
C
C
C
C
Certain Religious Workers
C
C
C
C
C
5th
Non-Regional Center
(C5 and T5)
C
22MAR14
C
C
C
5th
Regional Center
(I5 and R5)
C
22MAR14
C
C
C
 
About the Visa Bulletin
DOS publishes current immigrant visa availability information in a monthly Visa Bulletin. The Visa Bulletin (https://www.immigrationlawyernewyork.com/blog/revision-of-visa-bulletin-to-allow-earlier-filing-of-adjustment-of-status--applications.html) indicates when statutorily limited visas are available for issuance to prospective immigrants based on their individual priority date.
On Nov. 20, 2014, the Secretary of Homeland Security directed USCIS to work with DOS to:
- Ensure that all immigrant visas authorized by Congress are issued to eligible individuals when there is sufficient demand for such visas, and
- Improve the Visa Bulletin system for determining when immigrant visas are available to applicants during the fiscal year.
Additionally, in July 2015, the Administration issued its report on Modernizing and Streamlining Our Legal Immigration System for the 21st Century (https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/final_visa_modernization_report1.pdf). This report included detailed recommendations to revise and update the monthly Visa Bulletin to better estimate immigrant visa availability and provide needed predictability to nonimmigrant workers seeking permanent residency.