TheVisaTools

Methodology

How TheVisaTools sources data, verifies updates, and keeps the calculators aligned with official government publications.

Last reviewed 2026-08-30 · Official-source only · Browser-side calculations

Our source map

Every tool is tied to the official public source that governs it. We do not use scraped community data, and we do not fill gaps with estimates when a public source exists.

How updates work

The Visa Bulletin is published monthly. We update bulletin-driven tools after checking the new tables against the published source. Until then, the displayed month remains the source of the result. Processing times and fees have separate verification schedules; publication of new government figures does not automatically update our tools.

For historical Visa Bulletin data, we keep the record append-only. That means past months stay as they were originally published, even if the government later revises or clarifies something. The goal is to preserve what readers actually saw at the time.

Processing-times snapshot: the figures currently displayed were verified on May 29, 2026. They are a fixed snapshot, not a live USCIS feed. Each figure describes the time within which 80% of completed cases were processed for a specific form subtype and office; it is not an average or a deadline for your case. Check your form and office in the official USCIS tool for current figures and case-inquiry guidance.

How the calculators work

Priority-date and wait-time tools compare your inputs against the displayed verified Final Action Dates chart for the relevant category and country. The wait-time tool reports the calendar gap to a cutoff, not a forecast: it does not extrapolate historical movement, assume a one-month-per-month pace, or calculate an approval date. It does not determine filing eligibility; adjustment-of-status applicants must check the chart USCIS permits for the applicable month. Fee tools total the official filing fees for the scenario you select. Eligibility checkers walk through the basic published rules and thresholds, but they do not replace a case-specific legal review.

All calculations run in the browser. We do not need an account to compute a result, and we do not send your input values to a server just to show you a date, estimate, or checklist outcome.

What we do not do

  • We do not guarantee case outcomes, filing outcomes, or timing outcomes.
  • We do not present the tools as legal advice or as a substitute for a lawyer.
  • We do not hide the source when a tool relies on a public government page.
  • We do not rewrite historical data to make old records match later corrections.

Read next