The visa issue date is not the start of conditional residence. Record the actual applicable immigrant admission or adjustment approval and calculate the residence anniversary from that event.
Keep visa validity and residence evidence distinct
Retain the relevant documents and identify any discrepancy for appropriate review. A visa’s expiry governs its use for the intended admission; it should not be confused with the later conditional-residence timeline. More than one date on file can look like a plausible start date, including the date printed on the immigrant visa, a temporary stamp placed in a passport, and the date shown on an admission or approval record, and only one of those actually starts the conditional period.
For a case completed through consular processing, the relevant date is the actual admission recorded at the port of entry, found on the admission record rather than on the visa itself; for a case completed through adjustment of status, the relevant date is the approval date shown on the adjustment approval notice. Where family members were admitted or approved on a different date than the principal investor, each person's own conditional-residence period runs from that individual's own admission or approval date rather than from the principal's date. Keep the admission record or approval notice, not just the visa, as the primary document supporting the calculated filing window, and flag any inconsistency between documents for review rather than picking whichever date makes the calendar simplest.