The US visa bulletin for January 2026 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, for demands received by December 2nd.
In the Employment-Based, First Preference (EB1) Category, India’s cutoff date advance to 01FEB23 from 15MAR22. For all other countries, the EB1 category remains current.
In the Employment-Based, Second Preference (EB2) Category, India’s cutoff date pushes forward to 15JUL13 from 15MAY13. For all other countries, the EB2 cutoff date moves up to 01Apr24.
In the Employment-Based, Third Preference (EB3) Category, India’s cutoff date progresses to 15NOV13 from 22SEP13. The EB3 cutoff date for all other countries is set at 22Apr23.
In the other workers category, India’s cutoff date progresses to 15NOV13 from 22SEP13. For all other countries, the EB3 other workers category carries a cutoff date of 01Sep21.
In the Employment-Based, Fourth Preference (EB4) Category, the cutoff date moves to 01JAN21 from 01SEP20.
The Employment-Based, Fifth Preference (EB5) Category for India advances to 01MAY22 from 01JUL21. The EB5 category remains current for all other countries and for the three EB5 set-aside categories (rural, high unemployment, and infrastructure) across all countries.
The fiscal year 2026 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 at least 140,000. 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 7,320.
Unless otherwise indicated on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website, individuals seeking to file applications for adjustment of status with USCIS must use the “Final Action Dates” charts below for determining when they can file such applications.
FINAL ACTION DATES FOR FAMILY-SPONSORED PREFERENCE CASES
DATES FOR FILING FAMILY-SPONSORED VISA APPLICATIONS
FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CASES
DATES FOR FILING OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED VISA APPLICATIONS
