What is a visa priority date for a US green card?
A priority date is the date USCIS received your immigrant visa petition (Form I-140 or I-130). For employment-based green cards, you cannot file your adjustment of status (I-485) or immigrant visa application until your priority date is 'current' — meaning the State Department's visa bulletin shows a date equal to or later than your priority date. For oversubscribed countries (India, China, Mexico, Philippines), wait times can stretch a decade or more.
Why do India and China have such long green card backlogs?
US immigration law caps employment-based green cards at 140,000 per year, with no single country receiving more than 7% of that total. India and China have enormous demand from highly-skilled workers relative to this per-country cap, creating massive backlogs. EB-2 India applicants filing today face waits of over a decade. EB-1 India has a shorter but still significant backlog. EB-2 National Interest Waiver (NIW) self-petitions are popular for Indian nationals.
What is the difference between EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3?
EB-1 (first preference): extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, multinational executives and managers — no PERM labor certification required. EB-2 (second preference): advanced degree professionals or exceptional ability — PERM required unless National Interest Waiver (NIW) self-petition. EB-3 (third preference): skilled workers (2+ years training), professionals (bachelor's degree), other workers — PERM required, longest backlogs for high-demand countries.