Your priority date
For most family cases, it is the date USCIS received the I-130 petition. For most work cases, it is the date the labor certification was filed.
You can find it on your I-797 notice, next to the words "Priority Date".
The cutoff date
The cutoff date is the date in the bulletin for your category and your country. It can change every month.
How to compare them
If your priority date is earlier than the cutoff date, your date is current. If it is on or after the cutoff date, you wait.
Example: an EB-2 case with a priority date of 2023-10-15. If the cutoff is 2024-04-01, the priority date is earlier, so it is current.
When your date is current
Current means a green card number is available for you. Your case still has to be reviewed and approved. How long that takes depends on the office handling it.
Ask about your own category and country
Connect ImmigrationLayer to Claude or ChatGPT. Each answer is dated and links to the bulletin it came from.
Get the full bulletin