Every prospective immigrant has his or her priority date. The priority date is the date when USCIS first received the I, or when the Department of Labor received the labor certification request by your employer petitioner.
Your priority date will be on your paperwork from one of these agencies. The earlier your priority date is will mean you are in line ahead of others, but the current cutoff date will not tell you how long you will wait before your visa or green card is available. But, the Visa Bulletin website provides information on how long previous applicants are waiting for visas, so you can check what an approximate waiting time is. Sometimes the government feds up with a large number of visa applications.
This is usually a reason why the cutoff dates are prolonged for months. In other words, you have to wait for the next deadline. If you, your family member or employer who petitioned change addresses, you have to contact the National Visa Center NVC.
This contact point keeps your case file until your priority date is close to being current. You can notify them online using the Public Inquiry Form. Instead, you can contact the NVC and ask for the appropriate instructions. Nevertheless, if you are at the moment in the United States and eligible to apply for your green card visa that requires being either in lawful immigration status or is an immediate relative of a U. USCIS sometimes lets people submit their applications before their priority date is actually current.
It might just show you the same dates as in the Visa Bulletin ; or it might show you a separate, "Dates for Filing" chart, in which case you can take advantage of the early-filing possibility. Consult with an experienced U. The attorney can also help you with the application procedures for consular processing or adjustment of status and, if you're adjusting status, accompany you to your USCIS interview.
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Lawyer Directory. Call us at 1 Certain categories of green card applicants must, after their initial visa petition is approved, wait for their priority date to become current before continuing on with their application for a green card.
Timeframe to Get a Nonimmigrant U. Talk to a Lawyer Need a lawyer? Spouses and unmarried children under 21 of permanent residents. Unmarried adult sons and daughters of permanent residents. Married sons and daughters any age of U. Brothers and sisters of adult U. Now, with your priority date and family preference category, we can show you how to read the visa bulletin.
Example: Felipe F2A. Felipe is a citizen of Brazil, and he is the spouse of a U. So Felipe is in the F2A category.
He has an approved I petition with a priority date of January 29, Example: Ravi F3. Ravi is a citizen of India, and he is the married, adult son of a U. Therefore, Ravi is in the F3 category. He has an approved I petition with a priority date of June 15, Example: Jennifer F1. Jennifer is a citizen of the Philippines, and she is the unmarried, adult daughter of a U. Therefore, Jennifer is in the F1 category. She has an approved I petition with a priority date of September 20, Visa Retrogression.
Generally, the cut-off dates on the visa bulletin move forward in time. But sometimes they go backwards. Visa retrogression occurs when more people apply for a visa in a particular category or country than there are visas available for that month.
Retrogression typically occurs toward the end of the fiscal year as visa issuance approaches the annual category, or per-country limitations. Sometimes a priority date that meets the cut-off date one month will not meet the cut-off date the next month. When the new fiscal year begins on October 1, a new supply of visas is made available and usually, but not always, returns the dates to where they were before retrogression.
Apply for a Green Card. If your I petition is now current, you may apply for permanent residence green card in the United States. There are two basic ways to apply for your green card: consular processing or adjustment of status. Consular Processing. If you are currently outside the United States, the only path for immigrating to the U. Consular processing refers to the process of applying for an immigrant visa green card through the U. Consular processing is the most common path to obtain a green card.
Learn more about consular processing. Adjustment of Status. Form I, Petition for Alien Relative. Therefore, it's important to get it right. STEP 1. STEP 2. STEP 3. I Petition for Alien Relative. I Application for Travel Document.
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