Family Petitioning and Its Priority Dates
President’s Proclamation for Certain Countries
According to U.S. President’s proclamation that was effective on June 09, 2025, the nationals of Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen for all nonimmigrant and immigrant visa categories will be fully suspended to enter the U.S. However, there are limited exceptions such as:
Certain diplomatic and official visas
Certain immediate relative immigrant visas (spouses, children, and parents of U.S. citizens)
Adoptions by U.S. citizens, and
Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs)
Therefore, the nationals from the above restricted countries may still be eligible to file their petitions / applications for those qualified categories.
Petitioning for Immediate Relatives
For the immigration purpose, U.S. Citizen (USC) and Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) can file their immediate relatives based on eligible visa categories. Generally, the USC can file the family petitions for:
The spouse
The children (unmarried and under 21 years of age) — qualified as F1 classification
The parents of USC (at least 21 years old at the time of filing)
Widows or widowers of USC if the USC filed a petition before they died, or if the widow(er) files a petition within two years of USC’s death
Married son / daughter — qualified as F3 classification
Brothers / Sisters of USC (visas are limited per year) — qualified as F4 classification
In the meantime, the LPR can also file the petitions for their spouse, children, and unmarried sons and daughters. For immigration purposes, the children must be under 21 years of age. The visa category (second preference) for the spouse and children is known as F2A, and F2B is for the unmarried sons and daughters of LPR. According to State Department, the visa slots of 114,200 are available for these categories. Mathematically, the F2A (spouses and children of LPR) has 77% of the overall second preference limitation, and 23% are for the F2B category.
What is a Priority Date?
The priority date is the date of the petition is approved by USCIS. The priority date can be seen on the receipt (Form I-797C) issued. The priority date plays critical role for approved beneficiaries of family petitions in order to get visa through consulate process. Once the priority date becomes current, a beneficiary can continue with the visa process.
Understanding Visa Bulletin
According to State Department (for June 2025), there are five categories for the family petitions such as F1, F2A, F2B, F3 and F4. Specifically, the category of “all chargeability” belongs to every applicant from the world except for China, India, Mexico and the Philippines. Because these four countries are significantly backlogged for visa availability and they have longer wait times than the other countries.
