Short answer: your EB-3 priority date is your place in the green card waiting line. For EB-3 Unskilled (Other Workers) it is the day the U.S. Department of Labor accepted your employer's PERM application for processing. You find it on the I-140 receipt and approval notices and later in your NVC letters. You can apply for the immigrant visa only when your priority date is earlier than the date in the monthly Visa Bulletin.
What is an EB-3 priority date?
Many more people want an EB-3 green card than there are visas each year. So the U.S. government serves people in order, like a queue at a bank counter. Your priority date is your ticket number in that queue. The rule is written in U.S. regulations, 8 CFR 204.5(d): when a petition needs a labor certification, the priority date is "the date the labor certification application was accepted for processing" by the Department of Labor.
For almost every EB-3 Unskilled case this means: the PERM filing date is your priority date. It is not the day you signed a contract, the day you paid anything, or the day the I-140 was approved.
How do I find my EB-3 priority date?
You do not have to calculate it. It is printed on official papers:
| Document | Where the priority date appears |
|---|---|
| PERM (Form ETA-9089) | The filing or receipt date of the application. Your employer's attorney has it. |
| I-140 receipt notice (Form I-797C) | A field called "Priority Date" |
| I-140 approval notice (Form I-797) | The same "Priority Date" field |
| NVC Welcome Letter and NVC case status | Your priority date and your category (for example EW3 for Other Workers) |
Ask your attorney for a copy of the I-140 approval notice and keep it safe. If the dates on two papers do not match, ask about it early, not at the interview.
How to check if your priority date is current
- Open the newest Visa Bulletin from the U.S. Department of State.
- Go to the employment-based charts. Find the row "Other Workers" for EB-3 Unskilled.
- Use the column for your country of birth. Bangladesh, Korea and Nepal use "All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed".
- Compare your priority date with the date in the "Final Action Dates" chart. If yours is earlier, your case is current.
- Also look at the "Dates for Filing" chart: NVC can start collecting documents when your date is earlier than that date.
In the November 2026 Visa Bulletin, the EB-3 Other Workers Final Action Date for Bangladesh and all other countries not listed separately is 1 June 2022, and the Dates for Filing date is 1 July 2022. Every month since 2001 is on our Visa Bulletin history page.
A worked example with dates
Example: a worker's employer filed the PERM, and the Department of Labor accepted it on 10 March 2024. That is the worker's priority date.
- In the November 2026 Visa Bulletin the cutoff is 1 June 2022. The worker's date is later, so the case is not current yet.
- The gap is about 21 months. On our Visa Bulletin forecast, the typical speed of the last five years was about 7 months of movement per year. At that speed, closing a 21-month gap would take roughly three years. This is an estimate from past movement, not a promise: dates can stop or even move back.
- Meanwhile the PERM line is long too. In the Department of Labor processing times dated 31 October 2026, PERM analyst review took about 300 days on average. A worker whose PERM is filed today gets an even later priority date.
This is why the whole EB-3 process, from PERM to green card, takes about 5 years. Our green card timeline shows each step.
Can you lose or keep your priority date?
Under 8 CFR 204.5(e), once an EB-3 I-140 is approved, you can keep its priority date for a later employment-based petition, for example with a new employer. If you have several approved petitions, you get the earliest date. But there are limits:
- The date is lost if USCIS revokes the approval because of fraud or a willful misrepresentation, because the labor certification was revoked or invalidated, or because the approval was a material error.
- A denied petition does not give a priority date.
- A priority date belongs to the worker. It cannot be sold or given to another person.
- A certified PERM must be used for an I-140 within its validity period (180 days). If that is missed, the PERM expires.
Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 use your priority date as derivatives. Because a child can turn 21 while you wait, read our child age (CSPA) page.
FAQ
Does paying earlier give me an earlier priority date?
No. Only the official filing date of the PERM application counts. Be careful with anyone who says a payment "reserves" a date.
My priority date is current. Does that mean I will get the visa?
No. It means a visa number can be given. You still need complete NVC documents, the medical exam and an interview, and the officer must approve the case. Check the rule changes page for interview news.
How will I know when my date moves?
A new bulletin usually comes out in the middle of each month. You can get a free Visa Bulletin email alert.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Your attorney decides on your case. Visa Bulletin dates are from the November 2026 Visa Bulletin of the U.S. Department of State; PERM processing times are from the Department of Labor (FLAG) page dated 31 October 2026. Both change regularly.