The U.S. Department of State has released the September 2026 Visa Bulletin, and for employment-based green card applicants the headline is that almost nothing moved. EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 final action dates are unchanged from August across every chargeability area. With September being the final month of fiscal year 2026, the Department is holding the line rather than advancing dates it might have to pull back.
The dates that matter most to employment-based filers stayed exactly where they were. EB-1 remains current worldwide, with China at July 1, 2023 and India at October 15, 2022. EB-2 remains current worldwide and sits at September 1, 2021 for China. EB-3 worldwide holds at September 1, 2024, with China at January 1, 2022. The one category that did advance is EB-4 and Certain Religious Workers, which moved forward two months to December 15, 2022 for all countries.
EB-2 India remains unavailable, as does the unreserved EB-5 category for India. The Department has said both will stay unavailable for the remainder of fiscal year 2026, which means no numbers are issued and no cases in those categories can be approved before September 30. Applicants already in the queue are not losing their place — the annual limit has simply been exhausted, and the category reopens when the new fiscal year begins.
That reopening is where the real news sits. The Department of State has projected that the India EB-2 priority date will advance to July 15, 2014 or earlier as of October 1, 2026, when fiscal year 2027 visa numbers become available. For India-born NIW and EB-2 petitioners who have been watching an unavailable category all summer, that would represent a substantial jump from where the cutoff stood before it closed. The Department has also warned that increased demand from India in EB-1, China in EB-2, and the Philippines in EB-3 may require retrogression or unavailability in those categories.
One practical caution: USCIS had not yet confirmed which chart adjustment-of-status applicants may use for September at the time the bulletin was published. Employment-based applicants have been required to use the Final Action Dates chart for several consecutive months, and that pattern is expected to continue, but applicants planning a September I-485 filing should confirm on the USCIS adjustment-of-status filing charts page before sending anything.
If you are an India-born EB-2 or NIW applicant, the practical takeaway is to have your petition ready now rather than in October. A category that reopens with a multi-year date advance tends to draw a surge of filings, and preparation done in September is preparation you will not be scrambling to finish when numbers become available.
Need help with your immigration petition? Visit QuickFiling.us for AI-guided NIW and EB-1A petition preparation.