Where the line is right now

USCIS designated the Dates for Filing chart for family-sponsored adjustment-of-status filings in August 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 China has moved backward 3 times since October 2015. When that happens, people who were eligible to file stop being eligible.

• September 2017 — moved backward from May 8, 2004 to January 1, 2002, a loss of 858 days.
• June 2016 — moved backward from July 22, 2003 to January 1, 2003, a loss of 202 days.
• May 2016 — moved backward from May 1, 2004 to July 22, 2003, a loss of 284 days.

What a priority date actually is

Your priority date is the day your sponsoring relative properly filed the immigrant petition on your behalf. 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. When the cutoff passes your priority date, a visa number is available to you. 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. That single fact is why two colleagues doing identical work at the same company can be years apart in the same queue.