The U.S. Department of State has released the July 2026 Visa Bulletin, and the employment-based numbers bring a mix of setbacks and modest relief depending on your category and country of chargeability.
The headline change for employment-based applicants is EB-2 India, which has become Unavailable (“U”) for July 2026 — meaning no immigrant visa numbers remain in this category for the rest of the fiscal year. EB-2 China holds steady at a Final Action Date of September 1, 2021. In the first preference, EB-1 India retrogresses by two months to October 15, 2022, while EB-1 remains current for all other countries. There is better news in EB-3 China, where the Final Action Date advances by nearly five months.
The State Department also issued a forward-looking warning: rising demand and accelerated use of immigrant visa numbers may make it necessary to retrogress or make unavailable the EB-2 China and EB-3 Philippines categories in the coming months. Applicants in those categories should plan accordingly and avoid assuming current cutoff dates will hold.
Importantly, USCIS will honor the Final Action Dates chart for July 2026 adjustment-of-status filings, rather than the more generous Dates for Filing chart. Applicants should confirm which chart applies to their category on the USCIS “Adjustment of Status Filing Charts” page before submitting Form I-485.
For NIW and EB-2 petitioners from India, the unavailability underscores why priority date protection and well-documented petitions matter: when numbers tighten, a strong, approvable petition filed early preserves your place in line. Applicants from other countries in EB-2 and EB-3 generally remain current and may have a window to file while categories are open.
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Source: Reddit r/USCIS