CSPA age calculator

What is it? The day USCIS received the petition. For most family cases that is Form I-130. For employment cases it is Form I-140.

Which paper? The Form I-797C, Notice of Action, also called the receipt notice. USCIS mails it after it accepts the petition. Use the Received Date printed on it. This is not the same as the date of the notice.

For a child listed on a parent’s petition, use the parent’s petition.

The priority date is a different date and is found on the same kind of notice. See how to find your priority date.

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What is it? The day USCIS approved the petition.

Which paper? The Form I-797, Notice of Action that says Approval Notice near the top. The date of that notice is usually the approval date. Your online USCIS case status also shows when the petition was approved.

Don’t use the day the notice arrived in the mail. If your papers show different dates, or you’re unsure, ask a licensed immigration attorney or DOJ-accredited representative.

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What is the Visa Bulletin? (Read the full guide.) A monthly publication from the U.S. Department of State. For each visa category and country, it lists a cutoff date. If your priority date is earlier than the cutoff, a visa is available. It has two charts: Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing. For CSPA age, use Final Action Dates.

How to check when your visa became available:

1. Find your priority date on the Form I-797 approval notice. (Where to find it.)
2. Open the Visa Bulletin and go to the Final Action Dates chart for family-sponsored (or employment-based) cases.
3. Find your category (for a child of a permanent resident, F2A) and your country column. Most people use “All Chargeability Areas.” Some countries, such as India, Mexico and the Philippines, have their own columns. For a derivative child, use the parent’s category and country.
4. If your priority date is earlier than the date shown, a visa was available that month. “C” means current, and “U” means unavailable.
5. Go back through earlier bulletins, which are in the archive on the same site, to find the first month when that was true. Pick that bulletin’s month and year here.

Which day is counted? The first day of that bulletin’s month. Use the month named on the bulletin, for example “December 2024,” even though it is published earlier. If the petition was approved after that day, the approval date is used instead. The calculator does this for you.

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