Where the line is right now

USCIS designated the Dates for Filing chart for family-sponsored adjustment-of-status filings in September 2026. That designation changes month to month, and it determines which cutoff actually governs when you can file.

Has it moved backward?

The cutoff for India has moved backward 2 times since October 2015. When that happens, people who were eligible to file stop being eligible.

• September 2017 — moved backward from December 22, 2010 to May 1, 2010, a loss of 235 days.
• May 2016 — moved backward from October 1, 2009 to November 22, 2008, a loss of 313 days.

Who is in this line

This line is for the unmarried sons and daughters, age 21 or older, of U.S. citizens. Spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents of adult U.S. citizens are immediate relatives and are not in a bulletin line. The Indian community guides show where people born in India have settled in the U.S.

What a priority date actually is

Your priority date is the day USCIS accepted your relative’s petition, Form I-130. It is your place in line, and it never changes.

Every month the State Department publishes a cutoff date for each category and country of birth. A visa number is available only under the Final Action chart, and only when the priority date is earlier than that cutoff. A Dates for Filing cutoff controls filing, not visa issuance. Because the law caps how many green cards any one country can receive per year, applicants born in high-demand countries wait far longer than the worldwide line for the exact same category.

Country of birth is what matters — not citizenship, not where you live now. Two people in this same family category can be years apart in line if they were born in different countries.