As the U.S. Department of State prepares to release the July 2026 Visa Bulletin, employment-based applicants — especially those in the EB-2 category chargeable to “Rest of World” (ROW) countries — are watching closely to see whether EB-2 ROW will remain current, a question now being actively debated in the r/EB2_NIW community.
For much of the recent run of monthly bulletins, EB-2 ROW has shown a “C” (current) final-action date, meaning that applicants born in most countries other than the heavily backlogged ones could file and have their adjustment of status or immigrant visa processed without waiting on a priority-date cutoff. That is a meaningful advantage for EB-2 and NIW petitioners outside the high-demand chargeability areas.
Whether that status holds in July depends on demand. Each fiscal year, the employment-based categories operate under numerical limits, and as USCIS and consular posts use up available numbers later in the fiscal year — which ends September 30 — the State Department can impose or retrogress cutoff dates to keep usage within annual caps. Community members are split: some expect EB-2 ROW to stay current given recent trends, while others caution that late-fiscal-year demand could trigger a cutoff or retrogression.
The Visa Bulletin matters because it determines two things each month: the “Final Action Dates” that govern when a green card can actually be issued, and the “Dates for Filing” that govern when applicants can submit their adjustment paperwork. NIW and EB-2 applicants should check both charts when the July bulletin posts, and confirm which chart USCIS will honor for adjustment-of-status filings that month.
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Source: Reddit r/EB2_NIW