Priority Date Checker: How to Check If Your Date Is Current

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The official check takes under a minute, and you don’t need a third-party tracker or calculator. If you hold an approved I-140 and were born in India or China, you can check your priority date using the visa bulletin as published by the Department of State and USCIS, and this guide shows you exactly how to read it.

Beyond Border attorneys have collectively handled 4,000+ immigration cases across employment-based categories. The walkthrough below reflects how our attorneys check visa availability for clients, and if your date looks stuck, you can request an honest assessment of the faster-category options at the end of this article.

What Is a Priority Date, and Where Do You Find Yours?

Your priority date determines your place in the immigrant visa queue. Which date becomes your priority date depends on how your case started.

For PERM-based cases (most EB-2 and EB-3), your priority date is the date the Department of Labor accepted your permanent labor certification for processing, not the later date your employer filed the I-140. 

For self-petitions and no-PERM cases (EB-1, EB-2 NIW), your priority date is the date USCIS received the I-140 petition, shown on your I-797C receipt notice.

Many EB-2 and EB-3 applicants check the wrong date. If your PERM was filed months before your I-140, your priority date is earlier than the receipt notice suggests, and your position in the queue is better than you think. Pull your I-797 now and confirm which date applies to your case before running the check below.

How to Check Your Priority Date in the Visa Bulletin

The check compares one date to a cell in a table. Here is the full sequence.

1. Find your priority date on your Form I-797
2. Check which chart USCIS has designated for the month. Unless USCIS says otherwise, adjustment applicants must use the Final Action Dates chart.
3. Open the current month's bulletin from the Visa Bulletin homepage.
4. Scroll to the employment-based table for the chart you identified in step 2 and find your preference category row (EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, or Other Workers).
5. Read across to your country-of-chargeability columns. This is your country of birth, not citizenship or residence.
6. Compare the two dates. The bulletin authorizes numbers "only for applicants whose priority date is earlier than the final action date listed."  A "C" in your cell means current for everyone in that category; a "U" means no numbers are available.

Here’s a practical example using the employment-based Final Action Dates chart from the July 2026 Visa Bulletin. These figures expire when the August bulletin is published; treat them as a worked example.

In practice, an India-born EB-1 applicant with a priority date of March 2022 is current as of July 2026 and can move to the next stage of their application because March 2022 is earlier than 15 October 2022. 

A September 2013 EB-2 India applicant is not current because the category shows "U,” which means it’s unavailable. 

EB-2 India became unavailable because India's prorated share of the annual EB-2 limit has been exhausted for the 2026 fiscal year. EB-1 India also moved backwards in July 2026 for the same reason. DOS has also mentioned that the EB-2 India date will likely advance in October when the fiscal year 2027 supply opens. 

Final Action Dates vs Dates for Filing

The bulletin publishes two charts each month, and they mean different things; 

The chart in effect at the time of filing determines whether the filing can proceed. And the Final Action Dates chart current at the time of approval determines whether the case can be approved.

What Happens Next If Your Priority Date Is Current?

A current date opens a filing window. If you are in the United States, you can file Form I-485, the application to adjust status. If you are abroad, the National Visa Center notifies you to submit documents for consular processing, and your consular interview will be scheduled.

Two rules shape your timing. A visa must be available both when you file and when USCIS approves the case. And once your I-485 has been pending for 180 days, you may change to a same-or-similar job without disturbing the application.

What Happens During Retrogression?

A date that is current this month can move backwards next month. The USCIS Policy Manual defines retrogression as a cutoff moving to an earlier date, generally because a category's or country's annual limit has been reached or will soon be reached.

Filing your I-485 on time is not affected by retrogression. USCIS retains the case, processes it up to the point of final approval, and completes the approval when a number becomes available again. Your filing date, work permit, and travel permit remain intact while you wait.

Each October 1, a new fiscal year opens a fresh visa supply, and retrogressed dates usually, though not always, recover. The July 2026 EB-1 India retrogression and EB-2 India unavailability are both examples of late-fiscal-year supply exhaustion. Applicants who are current and have complete packages can file without delay. 

Keeping Your Place in Line: Priority Date Retention

Your priority date is portable. Under 8 CFR 204.5(e), a beneficiary of more than one approved EB-1, EB-2, or EB-3 petition is entitled to the earliest priority date across them. A new petition does not send you to the back of the queue.

Here are a few conditions where this applies; 

• The earlier petition must remain valid. If the earlier petition's approval was revoked for fraud or willful misrepresentation, was approved in material error, or its labor certification was invalidated, you lose the priority date. 

• The date can be used across employers. A new petition filing can carry your earlier priority date, though a new PERM is required where the new classification requires one. Confirm the mechanics for your case with counsel.

• The date can be used across categories. An EB-2 India applicant with a 2015 priority date whose record now supports EB-1A can file a new petition and keep the 2015 date in the EB-1 queue. 

Beyond Border prepares EB-1A and EB-2 NIW petitions for exactly this move, and we assess the record before making a recommendation. If your date has been stuck for years, request an honest eligibility assessment; we will tell you plainly whether your record does not yet support the upgrade and what evidence would change that. Schedule a consultation with Beyond Border today