Priority date for issuing green cards: how the waiting periods for each category are determined and whether it is possible to speed up the process

How to Determine a Priority Date for Immigration Purposes Tells All law.

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Certain categories of applicants for a green card must, after approval of their initial visa application, wait until their priority expires before continuing to apply for a green card.

This is a way of saying that you have to wait until your number appears on the waiting list due to the fact that there are numerous immigrants ahead of you in the green card category, which is subject to annual limits.

Not everyone faces multiple constraints or expectations; for example, green card applicants in the next of kin category receive an unlimited number of visas annually.

People who will be given priority dates include those in preference categories based on family or employment. The initial visa application was submitted either by a family member on Form I-130 (Petition for Foreign Relatives) or by an employer on Form I-140 (Immigrant Petition for Foreign Workers) after successfully applying for a visa. Some highly qualified employees may be able to file an I-140 petition on their own.

On the subject: Five serious problems that an expired green card can create

When your priority date becomes current, you can either apply for a status adjustment if you are already in the United States with legal status or otherwise qualify for the status adjustment procedure, or you can apply for an immigrant visa at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in your home country. country. Both of these options lead to permanent residency in the United States (green card), although in the latter case, you will not become a permanent resident until you use an immigrant visa to enter the United States.

On what basis do you get the priority date

The priority date is the date on which the U.S. Department of Labor received the labor certification application or the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) received a completed Form I-130 visa petition or (for self-petitioners) Form I-140.

However, if the visa or labor certificate application was incomplete when first submitted, it will be returned to the applicant and your priority date will be delayed.

Where to find your priority date

If the visa application for your green card is approved, USCIS will issue its approval on Form I-797, Notice of Action. Your I-797 will show your priority date.

Checking the fulfillment of your priority date

To find out which priority dates become “current” (which means people with those dates are now eligible for visas / green cards), you should check the Visa Bulletin published by the US Department of State on a monthly basis.

It shows a list of the visa termination dates for each category. In some cases, the categories are also broken down by country due to the fact that there are restrictions on the issuance of visas for each country, and the demand from these countries is particularly high. This is usually the case for China, India, Mexico and the Philippines.

If the Visa Bulletin lists “C” or “current” under your application category and your country of citizenship, this means that visas are available for your country in that category and you should expect to receive correspondence from the National Visa Application Center (NVC) shortly or must, if you change status, prepare and apply for a green card.

If in the Visa Bulletin there is a date for your category and country, which means that all people whose priority dates are earlier than this date can apply for an immigrant visa in that category. So, when you see a date that is later than your own priority date, be ready to apply for a green card.

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There is one more thing to know if you are in the US and will be changing your status. USCIS sometimes allows people to submit applications before their priority date is actually up to date. To find out, go to the Adjusting Status Tables section of the Visa Bulletin page of the USCIS website. He may simply show you the same dates as in the Visa Bulletin; or he can show you a separate "Submission Dates" table, in which case you can take advantage of the early filing option.

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