The State Department released the October 2026 Visa Bulletin on September 29, two days before fiscal year 2027 begins on October 1. The release is about two weeks later than usual; last year’s October edition came out on September 15. The new fiscal year brings a fresh allocation of green card numbers, and this bulletin shows that in two ways. Categories that were closed for India reopen, and the Rest of World categories that stayed current for most of FY2026 are cut back.
The EB-2 reset for Rest of World
The biggest change affects the largest group of NIW and EB-2 applicants. The EB-2 final action date for Rest of World, Mexico and the Philippines, which had been current, retrogresses to January 1, 2025. The EB-2 Dates for Filing for those countries moves back about six and a half months, to March 15, 2026. EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers retrogresses as well. Its Rest of World final action date moves from September 1, 2024 to May 15, 2024, and its filing date moves to August 1, 2024. According to law-firm summaries of the bulletin, the State Department said these retrogressions are needed to keep visa use within the new fiscal year’s quarterly and annual limits.
India and China
EB-2 India, which was unavailable through the end of September, reopens with a final action date of November 1, 2013, two months past its last cutoff. EB-5 unreserved India reopens at December 1, 2023. EB-1 India’s final action date advances about three and a half months, to February 1, 2023. EB-1 China holds at July 1, 2023, unchanged from September. For both countries, the EB-1 Dates for Filing advance seven months, to July 1, 2024. EB-2 China’s final action date moves up one month, to October 1, 2021, and its filing date jumps a full year, to January 1, 2023. EB-3 China’s filing date jumps more than two years, to April 1, 2024.
USCIS will accept the Dates for Filing chart
USCIS’s adjustment-of-status charts page, updated September 28, says applicants in both the employment-based and family-sponsored categories must use the Dates for Filing chart in October. An EB-2 applicant from a Rest of World country with a priority date before March 15, 2026 can therefore still file Form I-485 in October, even though a green card cannot be approved until their date is earlier than January 1, 2025. For applicants whose priority dates fall between those two dates, filing now secures work and travel authorization through a pending I-485, but the final decision waits for the final action date to advance.
What it means for NIW applicants
For EB-2 NIW petitioners from most countries, the stretch since the March 2026 bulletin, when EB-2 was current and approval could follow soon after I-140 approval, is over for now. Anyone with a 2025 or 2026 priority date should plan for a wait between I-140 approval and the green card. It also makes sense to file the I-485 while the filing chart still covers their priority date, because the State Department can move it again in any month. Final action dates at the start of a fiscal year are often set conservatively and can move forward once demand is clearer, but no forward movement is guaranteed.
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Source: Reddit r/USCIS