The EB-3 Visa Bulletin is a document every skilled-worker US immigration application needs to understand. It is issued monthly by the US Department of State and contains two tables that are easy to confuse: Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing.
What two tables does the EB-3 Visa Bulletin contain
Each issue of the Visa Bulletin has two separate date tables for different visa categories. Understanding these two tables correctly helps you know where your application stands in the process.
- Final Action Dates: the date an application can be issued a visa or Green Card.
- Dates for Filing: the earliest date an application can be filed for the visa-issuance stage.
Final Action Dates nghĩa là gì
Final Action Dates is the milestone that determines when an application is finalized and a visa is issued. When your priority date is earlier than this cutoff, your application has come up for final action.
This is the most important table, since it is directly tied to whether a Green Card is issued that month.
Dates for Filing nghĩa là gì
Dates for Filing allows applicants to submit the visa-issuance stage documents early, even before their turn comes up for issuance. This lets the application be ready and processed faster once Final Action Dates catches up.
However, each month the US authority decides anew whether the Dates for Filing table may be used. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), you need to check this notice for each period.
How to apply this to an EB-3 case
First, determine the priority date on your application, then cross-check it against both tables each month. If Dates for Filing is permitted to be used and your priority date has come up, you should submit your documents early.
To understand the full pathway for the US EB-3category, you can refer to our program page. The M2W team updates both tables with every issue of the Visa Bulletin.
Read more: Overview of the EB-3 visa for US immigration · From temporary work visa to US Green Card
