What is the final action date?

Why is there such a thing as a final action date?
In family-based immigration, there is a final action date in every green card category (F1, F2A spouse and children of a green card holder, …) that has more applicants than they are available green cards (because of annual numerical limits).

Priority date

Does the final action date matter to immediate relatives ?

No. It matters only to applicants who are eligible for a family-based preference.

Why are there different final action dates for different countries?

Because there is also an annual limit for each and every country across all family-based preferences. Applicants who were born in Mexico and The Philippines in particular wait much longer than others.

What does it mean when a priority date is ‘current’?

Let’s say that the priority date of the applicant is the 1st of December, 2010 and that the final action date is the 22nd of December, 2010. The priority date is earlier (before) the final action date. That is when the priority date is said to be current:

What happens when the priority date becomes ‘current’?

It depends on the filing sequence of the green card application:

• For applicants going through consular processing, the priority date being current means that the interview can be scheduled. Therefore, if the detailed application is documentarily qualified, it will be sent by the National Visa Center (NVC) to the embassy or consulate abroad where the interview will take place;
• For applicants going through adjustment of status, it generally means that they can file their form I-485.

Where can the final action dates be found? 

The Department of State publishes final action dates for various green card categories and countries of chargeability every month as part of the visa bulletin. You can obviously find these dates here at Immigration Planner, but also directly in the visa bulletin.

Let’s find out the final action date for an applicant born in Jamaica who is in the F1 green card category (unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens).