What changed
The family-preference categories themselves are set by INA § 203(a). Their numerical caps come from INA § 201(c) and the per-country limits from INA § 202(a). What moves month to month is how full each line is and whether unused numbers from one category fall to the next. The monthly DOS Visa Bulletin is where that movement is published.
Why it matters
“Family-based” is not one queue — it is five (immediate relatives plus the four preference categories), each with different rules, different caps, and dramatically different waits. A U.S. citizen petitioning a spouse files the same Form I-130 as a U.S. citizen petitioning a sibling, but the spouse will receive a visa within months and the sibling may wait two decades. Most “I-130 was approved years ago, what now?” calls are resolved by correctly identifying the preference category and locating the current priority-date cut on the Bulletin.
Way forward
Immediate Relatives (not a preference category). Spouses, parents, and unmarried children under 21 of U.S. citizens are “immediate relatives” under INA § 201(b)(2). They are not capped, do not appear on the Visa Bulletin, and process as fast as the petition and consular workload allow. The remaining four categories below are the “preference” lines.
F1 — Unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens. INA § 203(a)(1). Annual cap 23,400 plus any unused F4 numbers. “Unmarried” means at the time of visa issuance — marrying converts the beneficiary to F3 and resets the wait if the parent is still a U.S. citizen. “Son or daughter” means over 21; under-21 children are immediate relatives. On a typical Bulletin, F1 ROW runs 7–10 years; F1 Mexico runs 20+ years; F1 Philippines runs 10–12 years.
F2A — Spouses and children (under 21, unmarried) of LPRs. INA § 203(a)(2)(A). Cap 77% of the 114,200 F2 total, with at least 75% of F2A exempt from the per-country limit by statute — a special rule that makes F2A more uniform across countries than the other preference lines. F2A often runs “Current” on the Visa Bulletin for ROW, India, China, and Philippines, with Mexico the most common exception. When the LPR petitioner naturalizes, the F2A spouse converts to immediate relative and the F2A child (if still under 21) converts to immediate relative as well — see INA § 201(f) and the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA).
F2B — Unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of LPRs. INA § 203(a)(2)(B). Cap 23% of F2 = roughly 26,266 per fiscal year. Waits on a typical Bulletin: ROW 7–8 years, Mexico 22+ years, Philippines 11–12 years. F2B has an opt-out under INA § 6 of CSPA / 8 USC 1153(h)(2) — if the LPR parent naturalizes, the F2B child can choose to remain in F2B rather than convert to F1, which is sometimes the shorter line.
F3 — Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens. INA § 203(a)(3). Cap 23,400 plus unused F1 and F4 numbers. Includes the spouse and minor children of the F3 beneficiary as derivatives. Waits run 15+ years ROW, 25+ years Mexico, 20+ years Philippines.
F4 — Brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens (where the petitioning citizen is 21 or older). INA § 203(a)(4). Cap 65,000 plus unused F1, F2, and F3 numbers. Longest line in the family system: 16–18 years ROW, 24+ years Mexico, 22+ years Philippines, 18+ years India. Includes the F4 beneficiary’s spouse and minor children as derivatives.
Read the right column. The Bulletin gives separate columns for All Other Chargeability, China-mainland, El Salvador / Guatemala / Honduras, India, Mexico, and the Philippines. Family-preference chargeability follows the same INA § 202(b) cross-chargeability rules as employment-based: chargeability follows the beneficiary’s country of birth, and a spouse’s birth country can be substituted.
Watch CSPA on every category. A derivative child’s age under INA § 203(h) is calculated by subtracting the pending-petition time from the age at visa availability — see the CSPA age formula article. For F1 / F2B / F3 / F4 children of a young teenager when the I-130 was filed, the math is often the difference between continuing as a derivative and aging out into a separate, longer line.
Use the “Dates for Filing” toggle when USCIS authorizes it. Many months USCIS allows the more-permissive Dates for Filing chart for I-485 filing — see the companion article on the DFF toggle. For family applicants outside the U.S., the National Visa Center accepts DS-260 civil-document collection on the Dates for Filing chart even though consular interviews use Final Action Dates.
Disclaimer
Fola is a software company, not a law firm, and nothing in this article is legal advice. Family preference categorization under INA § 203(a) is fact-specific, and changes in the petitioner’s status (naturalization, death) and the beneficiary’s circumstances (marriage, age) can move a case between categories. Verify against the statute and the current monthly Visa Bulletin, and consult a qualified U.S. immigration attorney for case-specific advice.