The State Department has released the October 2026 Visa Bulletin, the first of fiscal year 2027, just days before the new fiscal year begins on October 1. It reopens the India EB-2 and India EB-5 unreserved categories and moves several Chinese and family dates forward. But it pushes worldwide EB-2 and EB-3 applicants backward, and for Indian professionals it brings far less movement than many had hoped.
The bulletin is usually published around the middle of the month. As we reported on September 25, it still had not appeared by then, and the State Department has not explained the delay.
The biggest change for applicants from most countries is in EB-2. The final action date for “all chargeability areas,” Mexico and the Philippines was current in September and now moves back to January 1, 2025. EB-3 for most countries and Mexico moves back from September 1, 2024 to May 15, 2024, and EB-3 Other Workers from April 1, 2022 to January 1, 2022. On the Dates for Filing chart, worldwide EB-2 falls from current to March 15, 2026 and worldwide EB-3 from current to August 1, 2024. The State Department says the retrogressions are “necessary to keep visa issuances within FY 2027 quarterly and annual limits” and that it will keep monitoring the situation.
China sees small gains in final action dates and larger ones on the filing chart. China EB-2 moves from September 1, 2021 to October 1, 2021, China EB-3 from January 1, 2022 to January 8, 2022, and China EB-3 Other Workers from May 1, 2019 to October 1, 2019, while China EB-1 and EB-5 unreserved do not change. On the filing chart, China EB-3 jumps from January 8, 2022 to April 1, 2024, China EB-2 from January 1, 2022 to January 1, 2023, China EB-1 from December 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024, and China EB-5 unreserved from March 1, 2017 to March 1, 2021.
Elsewhere, Philippines EB-3 edges forward from August 1, 2023 to August 15, 2023. EB-4 final action dates stay at December 15, 2022 for every country, while the EB-4 filing date moves from January 1, 2023 to January 1, 2025. The bulletin notes that H.R. 6500, signed on September 2, 2026, extends the religious worker category through December 11, 2026. The EB-5 rural, high unemployment and infrastructure set-asides remain current.
On the family side, F2A, which covers spouses and minor children of green card holders, moves from August 22, 2026 to September 22, 2026 for most countries and from August 22, 2025 to March 22, 2026 for Mexico, and its filing date stays current. Mexico F2B moves from February 15, 2009 to May 15, 2010 and Mexico F1 from January 1, 2008 to September 8, 2008. Philippines F4 advances from August 22, 2007 to May 15, 2008, and India F4 from November 1, 2006 to December 15, 2006.
USCIS has said that in October, applicants filing for adjustment of status inside the United States may use the Dates for Filing chart for all family and all employment categories. In September, employment cases had to use the Final Action Dates chart. Applicants can now file once their priority date is earlier than the filing date, though final approval still waits for the final action date.
For India, October brings a mix of news. India EB-2, unavailable since July, returns at November 1, 2013. India EB-5 unreserved reopens at December 1, 2023, and India EB-1 moves from October 15, 2022 to February 1, 2023. India EB-3 does not move and stays at January 1, 2014. The India filing date for both EB-2 and EB-3 remains January 15, 2015, where it has been since April 2026.
Two years of bulletins show that India EB-2 follows a repeating cycle. In the fiscal year that ended in September 2025, its date moved from July 15, 2012 to January 1, 2013 by April 2025 and then stayed there. The next year began at April 1, 2013 and reached September 15, 2013 by March 2026. In April it jumped ten months to July 15, 2014, but that did not hold. In June the State Department moved it back to September 1, 2013, citing high demand from Indian applicants in EB-1 and EB-2. In July it made the category unavailable, saying India’s pro-rated EB-2 limit had been reached for the rest of the year. Seen against that history, October’s November 1, 2013 is a restart two months past the last date that held, not a step backward.
India EB-3 has moved more steadily. In fiscal year 2025 it advanced from November 1, 2012 to May 22, 2013, and in fiscal year 2026 from August 22, 2013 to January 1, 2014, without moving backward or becoming unavailable. It has stayed ahead of EB-2 throughout. What is unusual this time is that it did not move at all in October.
Over the two years since October 2024, the EB-2 date has advanced about fifteen and a half months and the EB-3 date about fourteen months, while twenty-four months passed. The main reason is the per-country limit, under which India receives roughly seven percent of each employment category unless other countries leave numbers unused. Little of that extra supply appears to be available. Worldwide EB-2 was current from July to September 2026 while India EB-2 was unavailable, and worldwide EB-2 and EB-3 have now retrogressed, which suggests the rest of the world is using every number.
No one can say where the Indian dates will be by the end of fiscal year 2027, and the State Department has published no forecast. As a rough guess based only on the past two years, India EB-2 could reach somewhere around April to June 2014 by the summer of 2027, with a real chance that it will again be listed as unavailable in the final months of the fiscal year. India EB-3, which has moved about four to seven months a year without being shut off, could reach somewhere around May to August 2014. These are estimates drawn from a pattern, not predictions. The size of the fiscal year 2027 employment pool, demand from the rest of the world and a single large jump like April 2026’s could all move the dates in either direction.
Other questions remain open. The bulletin does not say how many employment-based numbers are available for fiscal year 2027. Its notes do not mention the travel ban or the 75-country immigrant visa pause now being fought on appeal, so they do not tell consular applicants how those restrictions will affect scheduling. It also has no diversity visa section.
Applicants from most countries with a pending EB-2 or EB-3 adjustment application should check their priority date against the new final action dates. Those whose dates now fall after the cutoff will have to wait for the date to move forward before approval, so keeping nonimmigrant status, work permits and travel documents current matters. Worldwide EB-2 applicants with priority dates before March 15, 2026, and EB-3 applicants with dates before August 1, 2024, can still file in October.
Indian applicants in the United States with an approved petition and a priority date before January 15, 2015, and Chinese applicants newly covered by the filing chart, can file their green card applications this month. Because USCIS chooses which chart to accept month by month, eligible applicants should gather medical exams, civil documents and employer letters and consider filing while the window is open. Applicants who will be interviewed at a U.S. consulate should remember that a current priority date alone does not guarantee an interview while other restrictions remain in place.
Source: U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026 and monthly Visa Bulletins from October 2024 through September 2026, including June 2026 and July 2026; USCIS, Adjustment of Status Filing Charts for October 2026.
This article is for general information and is not legal advice. The situation is changing quickly, so please consult an immigration attorney about your specific case.
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