Employment-Based Immigration Glossary: EB, Charts A/B, PD, ROW, SO, and Upgrading/Downgrading

01

EB and FB: Two Major Numerically Limited Immigration Categories

EB (Employment-Based) immigration comprises five preference categories, EB-1 through EB-5; FB (Family-Based / family-sponsored) refers to family-based immigration. The statutory worldwide annual employment-based level is 140,000, plus the previous year’s unused family-based numbers calculated under a formula. Thus, “a fixed 140,000 each year” describes only the base number, not the actual number each year.

Percentages in community documents such as “14% of the total number of U.S. green cards each year” are not sourced, and this site does not adopt them. The statutory shares for each category are: 28.6% each for EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3, and 7.1% each for EB-4 and EB-5.

02

Chart A, Chart B, AOS, and CP

Chart A is Final Action Dates, and Chart B is Dates for Filing. For filing Form I-485 for adjustment of status (AOS) within the United States, USCIS specifies each month on its official page which chart to use; if it does not specify a chart, Chart A applies by default. For applicants undergoing consular processing (CP) abroad, the Department of State arranges document submission and interviews according to the Visa Bulletin.

The community claim that “you can file a 485 if your date is before the Chart B cutoff” is true only when USCIS designates Chart B for that month. The claim that “a date before the Chart A cutoff means you are current and will be approved” is also inaccurate—Chart A indicates only that a visa number can be allocated; adjudication must still be completed.

03

PD and RD

PD (Priority Date) determines your place in the queue for visa numbers. For categories requiring labor certification, the priority date is the date the Department of Labor receives the labor certification application; for categories not requiring labor certification, such as EB-1 and NIW, it is the I-140 filing date.

Labor certifications have a validity period: under 20 CFR 656.30(b)(1), a permanent labor certification approved on or after July 16, 2007, expires unless it is submitted to the Department of Homeland Security with an I-140 within 180 calendar days of the Department of Labor’s approval date. This site does not draw conclusions here about the various circumstances in which a previously used labor certification may be used again for an I-140; individual cases are governed by the regulatory text and official adjudication.

RD (Receipt Date) is the date USCIS receives the filing, as shown on the receipt notice, and is distinct from the priority date.

04

ROW, MRC, and SO (Spillover)

ROW (Rest of World) is a community term referring to “other countries” less affected by the per-country limit; MRC (Most Retrogressed Country) refers to the country with the most backlogged cutoff dates. Which country is most backlogged varies by year and category. The community’s 2020 statement that “India is the most backlogged for EB1/2/3, and China for EB5” was only an observation at that time, not a fixed fact.

SO (Spillover) has two legal dimensions: first, the flow of numbers between categories (for example, unused EB-1 numbers flowing to EB-2); second, within a category, when the numbers available in a quarter exceed the number of people to whom visas can be issued, the remainder is not subject to the 7% per-country limit (8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(5)). See the article “Unused Visa Numbers and Per-Country Limits” for details.

05

NBC, Field Offices, and Service Centers Such as NSC/TSC

USCIS has 88 field offices, which handle interviews and other direct services; the National Benefits Center (NBC) performs centralized preliminary processing for applications requiring interviews, officially described as primarily family-based I-485 applications and naturalization applications. The community claim that “485s whose priority dates are not yet current are generally at NBC” is not an official case-assignment rule.

USCIS currently lists five service centers: California (CSC), Nebraska (NSC), Potomac (PSC), Texas (TSC), and Vermont (VSC). Community claims that “one center is strict in adjudicating EB-1 cases, while another is lenient” are anecdotal hearsay, not eligibility or approval standards, and this site does not rely on them.

06

“Aoben” and Upgrading/Downgrading

The community nickname “Aoben” refers to the Department of State official responsible for visa number control around 2020. The Department of State publishes the Visa Bulletin monthly, and the specific official in charge may change. This site does not name the individual or describe his current position.

“Upgrading/downgrading” refers to applicants with approved EB-1/2/3 petitions filing another I-140 in a different category and retaining their earlier priority date. The regulations permit retention of the earliest priority date when the conditions are met; see the article “Priority Date Retention and Upgrading/Downgrading” for details.