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EXPLAINER · EVERY RULE QUOTED FROM AN OFFICIAL SOURCE · CHECKED OCTOBER 17, 2026

Country of chargeability

What "country of chargeability" means, how the per-country limit works, and why some countries get their own Visa Bulletin column.

Family and employment preference green cards have yearly limits. On top of those, the law limits the share of visas that can go to people from any one country. The country a visa counts against is the country of chargeability, which is usually the country of birth.[1]

These limits apply to the preference categories, not to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, whose visas are unlimited.[2]

The numbers behind the limit

  • USCIS gives the general yearly totals: 226,000 family preference visas and 140,000 employment preference visas.[3]
  • The per-country limit is 7% of those two totals combined, which the bulletin states as 25,620.[4]
  • Within each category and country, visas go out in the order petitions were filed.[5]
  • A spouse or child who comes with, or later joins, the main applicant shares that applicant's status and place in line.[6]

Why India, China, Mexico and the Philippines have their own columns

When demand from one category and country is larger than the supply, DOS calls it "oversubscribed" and sets a cutoff date for it.[7]

The bulletin says special prorating rules apply when issuances to one country would go over the per-country limit, and that these rules currently apply to four countries.[8]

That is why each chart has one column for everyone else and one column for each of those four.[9]

The State Department describes the shared column as covering countries that are not oversubscribed and not listed separately.[10]

The China column is for people born in mainland China.[11]

What it looks like in a chart

In the October 2026 Final Action Dates chart, the F3 row (married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens) shows 22OCT14 for the shared column, China and India, but 01JUL01 for Mexico and 22JUL06 for the Philippines.[12][13]

So two people in the same category, with the same priority date, can face different cutoffs depending on chargeability. USCIS lists the country as one of three things that decide the wait.[14]

An exception inside F2A

The F2A category (spouses and children of permanent residents) has part of its numbers exempt from the per-country limit.[15]

For Mexico, the bulletin says all F2A numbers are exempt.[16]

See it in the data

Each country column, month by month, is on the Visa Bulletin history pages.

How a cutoff date is compared with a priority date is covered in Priority date.

This page explains general rules in plain English. It is not legal advice and does not tell you what applies to your case. Each numbered source below is the official page the sentence comes from; read it before relying on anything here.

Sources

  1. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “In addition, there are limits to the percentage of visas that can be allotted based on an immigrant’s country of chargeability (usually the country of birth).”
  2. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Immigrant visas for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are unlimited, so they are always available.”
  3. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “In general, family-sponsored preference visas are limited to 226,000 visas per year, and employment-based preference visas are limited to 140,000 visas per year.”
  4. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620.”
  5. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “INA Section 203(e) provides that family-sponsored and employment-based preference visas be issued to eligible immigrants in the order in which a petition in behalf of each has been filed.”
  6. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “Section 203(d) provides that spouses and children of preference immigrants are entitled to the same status, and the same order of consideration, if accompanying or following to join the principal.”
  7. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “If the demand for immigrant visas is more than the supply for a particular category and country of chargeability, DOS considers the category and country “oversubscribed” and must impose a cut-off date to keep the allocation of visas within the statutory limits.”
  8. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “The visa prorating provisions of Section 202(e) apply to allocations for a foreign state or dependent area when visa issuances will exceed the per-country limit. These provisions apply at present to the following oversubscribed chargeability areas: CHINA-mainland born, INDIA, MEXICO, and PHILIPPINES.”
  9. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA-mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES”
  10. U.S. Department of State, The Visa Bulletin. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Worldwide (non-oversubscribed countries only, which are those not individually listed below)”
  11. U.S. Department of State, The Visa Bulletin. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “China (mainland-born only)”
  12. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “( F3 ) Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens”
  13. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “F3 22OCT14 22OCT14 22OCT14 01JUL01 22JUL06”
  14. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “How long you must wait depends on your priority date, preference category, and the country to which the visa will be charged.”
  15. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “A. ( F2A ) Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents: 77% of the overall second preference limitation, of which 75% are exempt from the per-country limit”
  16. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “All F2A numbers provided for MEXICO are exempt from the per-country limit.”

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