October 2026 Visa Bulletin: EB-2 Retrogresses for Rest of World

The October 2026 Visa Bulletin opens fiscal year 2027 with a change that impacts most employment-based applicants: EB-2 is no longer Current for Rest of World. The category now carries a Final Action Date of January 1, 2025 and a Date for Filing of March 15, 2026. EB-3 Rest of World moved back as well, and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has designated the Dates for Filing chart as the one that governs adjustment of status filings in October. 

The Visa Bulletin is the Department of State’s monthly publication showing which green card applicants can move forward that month. Because employment-based green cards are limited each year, applicants wait in a line ordered by priority date, the date that fixes each person’s place. A category being Current means there is no cutoff and any priority date can advance. Rest of World is the group of countries without their own column in the Bulletin, meaning every country except China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines.  

October 2026 Final Action Dates (Employment-Based)

The Final Action Date is the cutoff that controls when a green card can be approved or an immigrant visa issued. Approval requires a priority date earlier than the date listed for the applicant’s category and country of birth. Below are the Final Action Dates for October: 

Category	Rest of World and Mexico	China	India	Philippines
EB-1 (1st)	Current	01 JUL 2023	01 FEB 2023	Current
EB-2 (2nd)	01 JAN 2025	01 OCT 2021	01 NOV 2013	01 JAN 2025
EB-3 (3rd)	15 MAY 2024	08 JAN 2022	01 JAN 2014	15 AUG 2023
Other Workers	01 JAN 2022	01 OCT 2019	01 JAN 2014	01 JAN 2022
EB-4 (4th)	15 DEC 2022	15 DEC 2022	15 DEC 2022	15 DEC 2022
Certain Religious Workers	15 DEC 2022	15 DEC 2022	15 DEC 2022	15 DEC 2022
EB-5 Unreserved	Current	01 DEC 2016	01 DEC 2023	Current
EB-5 Rural (Set-Aside)	Current	Current	Current	Current
EB-5 High Unemployment (Set-Aside)	Current	Current	Current	Current
EB-5 Infrastructure (Set-Aside)	Current	Current	Current	Current

Source: U.S. Department of State, October 2026 Visa Bulletin, Volume XI, Number 19. 

Compared with September, Rest of World moved back in three rows. EB-2 went from Current to January 1, 2025, EB-3 moved from September 1, 2024 to May 15, 2024, and Other Workers moved from April 1, 2022 to January 1, 2022. The remaining Rest of World categories did not change. 

India and China went the other way. EB-1 India advanced from October 15, 2022 to February 1, 2023. EB-2 India and EB-5 Unreserved India, both marked “Unavailable” in September, received dates again with the start of the fiscal year: November 1, 2013 and December 1, 2023, respectively. For China, EB-2 advanced one month to October 1, 2021, and Other Workers advanced five months to October 1, 2019. 

October 2026 Dates for Filing (Employment-Based) 

The Date for Filing is the Bulletin’s second cutoff. It controls when an applicant can submit the green card application before a visa number is available for approval: inside the United States, by filing Form I-485; abroad, by sending documents to the National Visa Center (NVC).  Below are the Dates for Filing for October: 

Category	Rest of World and Mexico	China	India	Philippines
EB-1 (1st)	Current	01 JUL 2024	01 JUL 2024	Current
EB-2 (2nd)	15 MAR 2026	01 JAN 2023	15 JAN 2015	15 MAR 2026
EB-3 (3rd)	01 AUG 2024	01 APR 2024	15 JAN 2015	01 JAN 2024
Other Workers	01 JUN 2022	01 OCT 2020	15 JAN 2015	01 JUN 2022
EB-4 (4th)	01 JAN 2025	01 JAN 2025	01 JAN 2025	01 JAN 2025
Certain Religious Workers	01 JAN 2025	01 JAN 2025	01 JAN 2025	01 JAN 2025
EB-5 Unreserved	Current	01 MAR 2021	01 MAY 2024	Current
EB-5 Set-Asides (Rural, High Unemployment, Infrastructure)	Current	Current	Current	Current

Source: U.S. Department of State, October 2026 Visa Bulletin, Volume XI, Number 19. 

On this chart, the Rest of World retreat was larger. In September, EB-2 and EB-3 Rest of World were both Current; in October, EB-2 moved to March 15, 2026 and EB-3 to August 1, 2024. Other Workers moved from August 1, 2022 to June 1, 2022. 

India and China advanced here as well. EB-1 for both countries went from December 1, 2023 to July 1, 2024. For China, EB-2 advanced one year to January 1, 2023, and EB-3 moved from January 8, 2022 to April 1, 2024. India’s rows in EB-2, EB-3, and EB-5 Unreserved stayed at their September levels. 

Adjustment of Status in October Follows the Dates for Filing Chart 

Adjustment of status is the process of applying for a green card from inside the United States through Form I-485. Each month, USCIS states on its adjustment of status filing charts page which of the Bulletin’s two charts determines who may file Form I-485 that month. For October 2026, the page designates the Dates for Filing chart for all employment-based categories. In September, the Final Action Dates chart applied. 

Stay Informed

The Visa Bulletin is published every month, and the chart USCIS designates for adjustment of status can change with it. Colombo & Hurd publishes an analysis of each Bulletin as soon as it is released. To follow the next updates, visit our News & Resources page.