What Is Priority Date?

A priority date is established when an immigrant visa petition is properly filed with USCIS (or, for employment-based cases, when a PERM labor certification application is filed with the Department of Labor). It functions as a queue number in the U.S. immigration system, which allocates a limited number of immigrant visas per year by country of birth and preference category — not country of citizenship.

The U.S. Department of State publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin that indicates which priority dates are 'current' — meaning a visa number is available for applicants with that date or earlier. For oversubscribed countries like India and China in the EB-2 and EB-3 employment-based categories, priority dates can be decades behind the present, meaning an applicant with an approved I-140 may wait 10–20+ years before they can file for Adjustment of Status or consular processing.

The Visa Bulletin contains two charts: Chart A (Dates for Filing) and Chart B (Final Action Dates). USCIS determines each month which chart to use, and applicants must monitor both to determine when they can file I-485 applications. Using the wrong chart or missing a filing window can cost months of waiting.

Priority dates can be preserved through employer changes under certain conditions (AC21 portability), and they travel with the applicant — not the employer — once an I-140 has been approved for 180+ days. For family-based petitions, the priority date is set when the I-130 is filed.

For foreign nationals working in the U.S. on temporary visas, the priority date is one of the most important numbers in their immigration journey — it determines how long they must wait before achieving permanent residence. Misunderstanding priority date mechanics, missing a filing window, or failing to preserve a priority date through a job change can cost years.

For employers, priority date awareness is essential for workforce planning, especially when retaining high-value employees from India or China who face multi-decade waits. An immigration attorney can help employees protect their priority dates, navigate the AC21 portability rules, and strategize around long queues.