The Visa Bulletin - Part 2

As I discussed in Part 1, the visa bulletin is used to determine if a visa is immediately available and whether or not the National Visa Center is working on those cases at this time.

In this post I am going to discuss the Family-Sponsored Preferences section.

Pulling up the same visa bulletin as before, you can see that there are five different family sponsored categories which all have different dates based on where the person is from.

The F1 preference is for Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens that are over 21 years of age. Prior to 21, they are considered "immediate relatives" and do not have to wait for a visa. The F2A preference is for Spouses and Children (under 21) of Permanent Residents. The F2B preference is for Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older) of Permanent Residents. The F3 preference is for Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens. Finally, the F4 preference is for Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens. It should be noted that there is no preference category for brothers and sisters of permanent residents. You may also be wondering, where are the preferences for spouses of U.S. citizens or parents of U.S. citizens over age 21? They are also considered "immediate relatives" and do not use the preference system.

So in practice what does this mean? Let's use the above chart as an example.

1. Lawful Permanent Resident Mark files for his wife from Germany on May 1, 2021. This would put his wife in the F2A preference. In December 2021, the visa bulletin shows the final action dates was "current" so there was a visa immediate available. Looking at the dates for filing, the date is after when he filed. Thus, he can start the National Visa Center Process.

2. Lawful Permanent Resident Leo files for his wife from Italy on July 31, 2021. This would also put his wife in the F2A preference. Even though her final action date is current, the dates for filing says June 1, 2021. Since Leo filed on July 31, they still have to wait for the National Visa Center to process their visas.

3. U.S. Citizen Alex files for his sister from Canada on December 1, 2021. This puts his sister in the F4 preference. Unfortunately, there is a very long backlog of cases and the December visa bulletin states that there are visas available for people who have priority dates on March 22, 2007 or earlier. That's 14 years previously! Unfortunately, Alex is going to have to wait a long time for the visa to become current.

4. Lawful Permanent Resident Maria from Mexico files for her unmarried daughter on April 1, 2021. This puts her daughter in the F2B category. Notice that she is from Mexico - there is a special column for Mexico. The visas that are available are for people who have a priority date of March 15, 2000 or earlier. That is 21 years to wait!

When reviewing the visa bulletin, it is important to look not only at the category, but the country and the final action dates and dates of filing.