Visa Bulletin: what it is

Who publishes it and when. The bulletin appears on travel.state.gov once a month, usually in the middle of the previous month. In the Employment-based section the rows are categories (1st for EB-1, including EB-1A, EB-1B and EB-1C; 2nd for EB-2, including NIW) and the columns are countries of birth: only China, India, Mexico and the Philippines have their own columns, every other country falls under All Chargeability Areas (ROW in the chats). The country is taken by birth, not by citizenship.

Two charts. Final Action Dates - when the case can be finally approved and the visa or green card issued; Dates for Filing - the earlier date from which you may start submitting documents. Which one USCIS accepts for an I-485 filing this month is announced separately. A cell holds either a date, or C (current, no queue), or U (numbers exhausted).

Who the bulletin does not concern. It applies only to immigrant categories: if you hold an O-1 and have not yet filed an I-140 under EB-1A or EB-2 NIW, the bulletin is not your topic yet. Premium processing speeds up only the petition decision and does not move the bulletin queue.

Where to check your own dates. Never plan a filing around a figure from a chat or a screenshot - only around the current issue. The current EB-1, EB-2 and EB-3 cut-offs, the month's movement and a 12-issue history are on the Visa Bulletin page; how to read the table for your own case is in the knowledge-base guide.