The US visa bulletin outlines the deadlines for final action dates and filing applications for immigrant visa applicants to submit necessary paperwork to the National Visa Center.
The US visa bulletin for September has been released by the Department of State. The US visa bulletin shows the deadlines for Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing Applications by immigrant visa applicants for submitting necessary paperwork to the National Visa Center.
F2A category shows advancement from 01 April 2025 moving to 01 June 2025. The Second preference (F2A) is for spouses and children, unmarried and under 21 years of age, of lawful permanent residents or green card holders.
According the September US Visa Bulletin, there has been a steady increase in both USCIS and Department of State demand patterns for employment-based visas during the fiscal year.
As a result, the Visa Office expects to reach FY-2025 category limits in most employment-based preference categories during August and September.
If at any time an annual limit were reached, it would be necessary to immediately make the preference category “unavailable”, and no further requests for numbers would be honored.
Final Action cutoff dates
The Final Action cutoff dates will be crucial for the issuance of an immigrant visa or the approval of an adjustment of status application.
Allocations in the charts below were made, to the extent possible, in chronological order of reported priority dates, for demand received by August 4th.
If not all demand could be satisfied, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed. The final action date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who could not be reached within the numerical limits.
If it becomes necessary during the monthly allocation process to retrogress a final action date, supplemental requests for numbers will be honored only if the priority date falls within the new final action date announced in this bulletin. If at any time an annual limit were reached, it would be necessary to immediately make the preference category “unavailable”, and no further requests for numbers would be honored.
In the August bulletin, the Department of State has issued alerts regarding potential impending shortages in the EB-2, EB-3, and EB-5 categories that could last until the fiscal year’s end on September 30, 2025.
Fiscal Year 2025 Limit
The fiscal year 2025 limit for family-sponsored preference immigrants determined in accordance with Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is 226,000. The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is 150,037. Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,521.
The Department of State has determined the Family and Employment preference numerical limits for FY-2025 in accordance with the terms of Section 201 of the INA. These numerical limitations for FY-2025 are as follows:
Worldwide Family-Sponsored preference limit: 226,000
Worldwide Employment-Based preference limit: 150,037
Under INA Section 202(a)(2), the per-country limit is fixed at 7% of the combined total family and employment annual limits.
For FY-2025 the per-country limit is therefore 26,323. The dependent area annual limit is 2%, or 7,521. Note that these figures do not account for carryover provisions in accordance with INA 203(b)(5)(B). With these carryover visa numbers included, the per-country limit is 26,862 and the dependent area limit is 7,675.
The visa prorating provisions of Section 202(e) apply to allocations for a foreign state or dependent area when visa issuances will exceed the per-country limit. These provisions apply at present to the following oversubscribed chargeability areas: China-mainland born, India, Mexico, and Philippines.
For the Fifth category, Employment Creation, 7.1% of the worldwide level, of which 32% are reserved as follows: 20% reserved for qualified immigrants who invest in a rural area; 10% reserved for qualified immigrants who invest in a high unemployment area; and 2% reserved for qualified immigrants who invest in infrastructure projects. The remaining 68% are unreserved and are allotted for all other qualified immigrants.
Diversity Immigrant Category
For September, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2025 applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries. When an allocation cut-off number is shown, visas are available only for applicants with DV regional lottery rank numbers.
Entitlement to immigrant status in the DV category lasts only through the end of the fiscal (visa) year for which the applicant is selected in the lottery.
The year of entitlement for all applicants registered for the DV-2025 program ends as of September 30, 2025. DV visas may not be issued to DV-2025 applicants after that date. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2025 principals are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 2025. DV visa availability through the very end of FY-2025 cannot be taken for granted. Numbers could be exhausted prior to September 30.
A. FINAL ACTION DATES FOR FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCE CASES
B. DATES FOR FILING FAMILY-SPONSORED VISA APPLICATIONS
A. FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CASES
B. DATES FOR FILING OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED VISA APPLICATIONS
B. DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT (DV) CATEGORY FOR THE MONTH OF SEPTEMBER
