How to read the Visa Bulletin for EB-5

A few terms appear throughout the bulletin. Understanding them makes the EB-5 rows much easier to read.

Priority date

Your place in line. For EB-5 investors it is generally the date USCIS received a properly filed Form I-526 or I-526E. Qualifying derivative family members (a spouse and unmarried children under 21) generally share the investor's priority date.

Cut-off date

The date shown in the bulletin for a category and country. Applicants whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date are within the range the chart covers that month.

Country of chargeability

The country whose per-country limit your visa counts against. It is generally your country of birth, not your citizenship or residence, although limited exceptions exist (for example, in some cases a person may be charged to a spouse's country of birth). An attorney can confirm how this applies to you.

"C" (current)

No cut-off applies that month: visas are available, or filing is open, for all applicants in that category and country regardless of priority date.

"U" (unavailable)

No visas are available in that category for that country during the month, regardless of priority date.

Retrogression

When a cut-off date moves backward compared with an earlier month, or a category changes from "C" to a date. Applicants who were previously within the range may no longer be.

Each employment-based section of the bulletin contains two charts. They serve different purposes, and the same applicant may be within range on one but not the other.

For applicants in the United States, USCIS decides each month which chart governs when an adjustment of status application (Form I-485) may be filed, and publishes that decision on its adjustment of status filing charts page (opens in a new tab). This matters directly for concurrent filing. Even when filing is permitted under the Dates for Filing chart, final approval generally still waits until the priority date is within the Final Action Dates chart.

Since the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, the EB-5 section of the bulletin shows separate rows for the unreserved category and for each of the three reserved categories. Which row applies depends on the investment, not on the investor.

• Rural (20% of EB-5 visas each fiscal year): investments in projects located in a qualifying rural area.
• High unemployment (10%): investments in projects in a qualifying high-unemployment area.
• Infrastructure (2%): investments in projects that meet the statutory definition of an infrastructure project.
• Unreserved: all other EB-5 investments, along with visas that flow into it from the reserved categories.

Visas set aside in a reserved category that go unused in a fiscal year generally carry over in the same reserved category for one more fiscal year; if still unused, they then become available in the unreserved category. Because each category has its own row, a reserved category may show "C" while the unreserved category shows a cut-off date for the same country, or the reverse. For more detail see reserved visa categories.

EB-5 receives 7.1% of the worldwide allocation of employment-based immigrant visas each fiscal year. That annual supply is shared by investors and their derivative family members, so each investor family generally uses more than one visa.

Immigration law also applies per-country limits, which generally cap the share of visas that applicants charged to any single country can use. When demand from a country is high relative to that limit, as has been the case for some countries such as China and India, applicants from that country may face a cut-off date while applicants from other countries remain current.

Cut-off dates move as the Department of State balances demand against supply. Large numbers of petitions filed in a short period, the pace at which USCIS approves petitions, and the number of family members per case can all influence how dates move. These factors make any long-range prediction uncertain, and EB5 Circle does not forecast cut-off dates.

Suppose a fictional investor named Priya was born in a country that, in an imaginary bulletin, has a cut-off date in the unreserved EB-5 category. She filed her Form I-526E on an invented date, 15 March 2021, which becomes her priority date. She lives in the United States in a nonimmigrant status and is considering concurrent filing.

1. 01

   Step 1: Find the right row

   Her project is not in a reserved category, so she looks at the unreserved EB-5 row and the column for her country of birth.

2. 02

   Step 2: Check the Dates for Filing chart

   Suppose the imaginary Dates for Filing chart showed 01JAN22 for her row. Her priority date (15 March 2021) is earlier than 1 January 2022, so she is within range on that chart.

3. 03

   Step 3: Check the Final Action Dates chart

   Suppose the imaginary Final Action Dates chart showed 01JUL20. Her priority date is later than 1 July 2020, so a visa could not yet be issued or her adjustment approved that month.

4. 04

   Step 4: Check which chart USCIS designates

   If, in this invented month, USCIS designated the Dates for Filing chart, she might be able to file Form I-485 (subject to all other requirements). If USCIS designated the Final Action Dates chart, she would not be able to file that month.

5. 05

   Step 5: Watch later months

   If a later imaginary bulletin retrogressed the Dates for Filing chart to 01JAN20, she would no longer be within range on that chart. If she had already filed properly, her application would generally remain pending until her date became current again under the Final Action Dates chart.

The same reading method applies to any category and country. Your attorney can confirm your priority date, category and chargeability before you rely on any reading.

1. 01

   Step 1: Open the official Visa Bulletin

   Go to the Visa Bulletin page on travel.state.gov (opens in a new tab) and select the bulletin for the current month. Bulletins are usually released in advance of the month they cover.

2. 02

   Step 2: Find the employment-based section

   Locate the Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing charts for employment-based preferences, and the EB-5 rows within them (unreserved and each reserved category).

3. 03

   Step 3: Read your row and column

   Match your category to your country of chargeability. Countries without their own column generally fall under the "All Chargeability Areas" column.

4. 04

   Step 4: Check the USCIS chart designation

   If you are in the United States, check the USCIS adjustment of status filing charts page (opens in a new tab) to see which chart applies for filing that month.

5. 05

   Step 5: Read the notes

   The bulletin often includes explanatory notes about EB-5 availability or expected movement. These are informational and not guarantees.

Reading the bulletin is one part of planning. How it affects you depends on your category, chargeability, family members' ages and where you are living.

• If you are in the United States, read our guide to concurrent filing.
• Learn about the reserved visa categories and how projects qualify.
• If you have children nearing 21, see planning for children and age.
• Review the overall EB-5 process, or request a consultation to be connected with an appropriate qualified professional.

A qualified U.S. immigration attorney can confirm how the current bulletin applies to your case.