Spouse of Permanent Resident (Green Card Holder)

The F-2A category (spouses and unmarried children under 21 of green card holders) is facing major processing delays. This means significantly longer waits for applicants to adjust their status. Your priority date (I-130 filing date) is now more important than ever. So stay updated with the latest Visa Bulletin.  

The visa bulletin is issued every month by the Department of State. It shows which green card applications can move forward, based on when the I-130 petition that starts the green card process was originally filed. It also lets you estimate how long it will take before you will be able to get your green card, based on how quickly the “line” is moving now. Once your I-130 petition has been filed, you’ll be able to check the visa bulletin and watch your place in line move forward. 

The visa bulletin exists because Congress caps the number of green cards that can be issued each year. The number of people who are seeking green cards has consistently exceeded this annual limit, creating a backlog. In addition to setting an overall limit on the number of green cards that can be issued per year, Congress also limits the number of available green cards based on country of origin. Under this annual “country cap,” no single country of origin can account for more than 7% of the green cards in any particular category. 

The April 2023 Visa Bulletin caused a drastic adjustment to the F-2A family-based category (Spouses and Unmarried Children (Under Age 21) of U.S. Green Card Holders). The “Final Action Dates” for these applications are no longer current due to a backlog of cases in this category. “Final Action Dates” tell when applications whose priority dates have reached the front of the line can be processed. Due to a growing backlog of cases in this category, the “Final Action Dates” for F-2A applications are no longer “current” for the first time in several years. 

As of May 2024 Visa Bulletin provided, the “Dates for Filing” is 09/01/2023 for the F-2A category, meaning spouses and unmarried children of U.S. green card holders can file their green card applications (assemble and submit required documents to the Department of State’s National Visa Center) if priority date is earlier than 09/01/2023.