The May 2023 priority dates

Each month, the Visa Office of the State Department publishes, in the Visa Bulletin, the priority dates for that particular month for the various family and employment-based categories.

A priority date is a person’s “place in line” for a visa, meaning immigrant visas (or green cards) would be available for persons whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off dates listed below in the Visa Issuance or Final Action Date column.

If your priority date was “current” but later retrogressed (or “moved backwards” and became unavailable) before your immigrant visa was issued (or before you adjusted status in the US), you would have to wait until it becomes current again.

In fact, per the Visa Bulletin, the priority dates for employment-based second and third preference categories retrogressed in May 2023 “to hold number use within the maximum allowed under the FY-2023 annual limit.”

In other words, there are too many people applying for visas in these categories in relation to the remaining annual supply.  So, the priority date is moved backwards to limit demand, or the number of people eligible.

Caution: If your Final Action/Visa Issuance date has been current for more than a year and you were notified by the National Visa Center (NVC) but did not respond, you could risk your case being canceled or terminated, or your child could lose age-out protection under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA).