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 date listed below. 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 U.S.), you would have to wait until it becomes current again.
Beginning last October 2015, the format of the Visa Bulletin changed, in that a new column was added, called the “Application Filing Date.” If a person's priority date is earlier than the Application Filing Date, they can already file for adjustment of status and work authorization (provided they are otherwise eligible and USCIS indicates on its website it will use the Application Filing Date for that month). This could allow people to obtain work authorization much sooner than before, where they had to wait for the priority date to be current (in the Visa Issuance Date column) in order to both file for adjustment and be eligible for a green card.
The priority dates for the Philippines are as follows:
| FAMILY CATEGORY: |
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Application Filing Date |
Visa Issuance Date |
| First Preference | Unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens (over 21 years of age) | May 1, 2006 | December 15, 2005 |
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| Second Preference | (2A) Spouse and minor children (below 21 years old) of green card holder | November 22, 2015 | May 8, 2015 |
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| (2B) Unmarried sons and daughters (21 years old or older) of green card holder | February 1, 2007 | May 1, 2006 |
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| Third Preference | Married sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens | January 1, 1995 | September 8, 1994 |
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| Fourth Preference | Brothers and sisters of U.S. Citizens. | April 1, 1994 | August 1, 1993 |
| LABOR CERTIFICATION: | Application Filing Date | Visa Issuance Date | |
| Second Preference | Advanced Degree (Masters) | Current | Current |
| Third Preference | Professional/Skilled Workers | September 1, 2013 | March 15, 2012 |
| Other workers | Non-Skilled Workers | September 1, 2013 | March 15, 2012 |
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