An example client
A permanent resident petitions for their spouse.
The petition is filed on 14 March 2025. That day becomes the spouse's priority date, and the wait starts.
Chapter 1
One date, four bulletins
Two real moves from the 2026 Visa Bulletin, followed through an example client.
June 2026 bulletin
The F2A cutoff is 01JAN25.
Every month the State Department publishes a cutoff for each category and country. Visas go only to priority dates earlier than it. This client is about ten weeks short.
July 2026 bulletin
No movement.
Same cutoff, same wait. Most months look like this, which is why nobody wants to check by hand.
August 2026 bulletin
Then F2A jumps more than eighteen months.
In one bulletin the cutoff moves from 01JAN25 to 22JUL26, straight past this client's date.
When the bulletin is loaded
lawg2 tells the firm.
lawg2 checks every priority date tracked on a case against the new bulletin. Firm admins and managing attorneys get an in-app notice for each one that became current, and it's added to the case timeline.
Back to the June 2026 bulletin
Dates move backward too.
EB-2 India's cutoff was 01SEP13. A client with a 2012 priority date was current.
July 2026 bulletin
Then EB-2 India became unavailable.
No cutoff at all: no visa numbers for that category, and it stayed that way through September. lawg2 sends a retrogression notice for each tracked date that's no longer current, so the firm can review pending filings with the client.