Tracking the US Visa Bulletin as Open Data
A developer creates yiminshuju.com and an open dataset to transform US Visa Bulletin PDFs into queryable structured data without screenshots.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Converts US Visa Bulletin data from PDFs into queryable open data.
- Launched yiminshuju.com and a GitHub repository for complete transparency.
- Places Table A and Table B side by side for effortless comparison.
- Strictly avoids interpolated estimates, leaving missing official fields blank.
Every month, the US Department of State publishes the Visa Bulletin—the official chart indicating whether employment- and family-based immigrant applicants have current priority dates. For years, the standard workflow involved opening a PDF, squinting at tables, copying numbers into spreadsheets, and arguing over what specific status codes actually meant.
Tired of this manual hassle, a developer built a dedicated data site and open dataset to republish the bulletin in a format ready for querying. The project is accessible via yiminshuju.com, with full bulletin tables hosted at yiminshuju.com/paiqi and raw open data maintained in the GitHub repository visa-bulletin-cn.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
The platform functions purely as a data repository—not a law firm, consultancy, or green card service provider. Every single figure links directly to an official source and carries an update timestamp. If the government omits a specific field, the corresponding cell remains empty, discarding any dressed-up estimated figures.
Transforming static government PDFs into structured open data showcases a prime example of developers solving practical bottlenecks using code. By replacing error-prone manual tracking with automated scraping and version-controlled datasets, it significantly improves data accessibility and reliability for applicants and analysts alike.
The bulletin features two nearly identical charts with distinct meanings. Mistaking Table B priority dates for final action readiness under Table A remains a common error. The dedicated web page keeps Table A and Table B positioned side by side for China, Worldwide, and India, allowing users to compare data without flipping through multiple documents.
The letter C generally denotes Current, indicating no backlog for that specific category during that month, and should be treated as a status code rather than a calendar date. Synchronization occurs immediately after each Department of State bulletin release to keep the website and repository updated, always treating original government notices as authoritative sources.
Source: Dev.to
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