METHODOLOGY
How the data is collected
greencardline does not produce immigration data. It copies what U.S. government agencies publish, keeps every version, and shows each number next to the official page it came from.
| Data | Published by | How often we record it | History we hold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa Bulletin | U.S. Department of State | Checked daily; every issue kept | 294 issues, December 2001 to October 2026 |
| USCIS processing times | USCIS | Weekly; every form, category and office | since October 17, 2026 |
| USCIS historical medians | USCIS | Weekly | fiscal years as published |
| USCIS quarterly data files | USCIS | Weekly check for new files | files since 2015 |
| PERM and prevailing wage | U.S. Department of Labor | Daily | since October 17, 2026 |
| NVC timeframes | U.S. Department of State | Weekly | since October 17, 2026 |
How it works
- An automated archive visits each official page on the schedule above and saves the page exactly as the agency served it. If nothing changed since the last visit, it records only that the page was checked.
- The site is rebuilt from that archive. Tables are reproduced as published; where we turn a date into a chart or a list of changes, every point links back to the bulletin or file it came from.
- Much of this data is only ever published as a current value. Our history for those sources starts on the day recording began, shown on each page.
- If a source cannot be read, the page keeps showing the last value with its date rather than guessing, and the failure is logged for review.
What we do not do
- We do not predict future Visa Bulletin movement or processing times.
- We do not look up or store anyone's case. There is no receipt-number search on this site.
- We do not give legal advice. The explainers quote the official source for every rule, and each quote is re-checked against the official page every month.
Copyright
The underlying data and quoted text are published by U.S. federal agencies. We credit the agency and link the original page wherever it appears.