F1 Visa Bulletin: unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, every cut-off since 2002

Every F1 retrogression since 2002

• All other countries: November 2003 (4.0 months), July 2006 (15.7 months), August 2006 (36.0 months), January 2011 (13.5 months), April 2011 (8.0 months), September 2017 (7.7 months), September 2018 (30 days)
• China (mainland-born): July 2006 (15.7 months), August 2006 (36.0 months), January 2011 (13.5 months), April 2011 (8.0 months), September 2017 (7.7 months), September 2018 (30 days)
• India: July 2006 (15.7 months), August 2006 (36.0 months), January 2011 (13.5 months), April 2011 (8.0 months), September 2017 (7.7 months), September 2018 (30 days)
• Mexico: August 2004 (33.4 months), July 2005 (141.7 months), May 2006 (43.2 months), May 2007 (36.0 months), July 2009 (21.2 months), July 2019 (12.2 months)
• Philippines: January 2011 (34.0 months), August 2012 (40.5 months), June 2015 (59.1 months), December 2017 (24.0 months)

Who can use F1

F1 is the family-sponsored preference for unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of U.S. citizens. Its annual limit is 23,400 a year plus numbers F4 does not use. The petitioner files Form I-130; the priority date is the day USCIS received it.

Your column is your country of chargeability, normally the country of birth. A green card in F1 becomes possible in the month the final action date for your column passes your priority date; until then the case waits at USCIS or the National Visa Center.

What the history says about the next months

A line's past speed is the best simple guide to its future, and the State Department itself plans with it. Over the last five years the F1 line for most countries cleared 12.3 mo/yr, while Mexico cleared 23.2 mo/yr. Speeds change when demand changes – a surge of new petitions, a change in the law, unused numbers falling from another category in October – so treat any projection as a range, not a date.