How USCIS Calculates Your EB-5 Priority Date

Your EB-5 priority date is the date USCIS receives your properly-filed I-526E petition. That is the whole calculation. There is no separate "priority date assignment" step. There is no waiting list to be added to. The date stamped on your I-797 Notice of Action when USCIS accepts your filing fee is the date that governs when a visa number eventually becomes available to your case. The complexity in this topic is not the calculation itself; it is the surrounding rules about what counts as "properly filed," what chargeability rules apply, what changes a priority date, and what does not. This article walks through how the date is assigned, how it interacts with the visa bulletin, and the narrow set of circumstances where the date can shift. ## The basic rule: receipt date equals priority date For EB-5, INA 203(d) and the implementing regulations at 8 CFR 204.6 assign the priority...