January 2026 Visa Bulletin: More Forward Movement in All Categories

The Department of State has just issued the January 2026 Visa Bulletin. This blog post analyzes this month’s Visa Bulletin.

Visa Bulletin

Table A: Final Action Dates – Applications with these priority dates or earlier may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency Card) or Immigrant Visa Appointment:

Employment- based	All Chargeability  Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland  born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	01FEB23	01FEB23	C	C
2nd	01APR24	01SEP21	15JUL13	01APR24	01APR24
3rd	22APR23	01MAY21	15NOV13	22APR23	22APR23

Table B: Dates for Filing

Employment- based	All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA- mainland  born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	C	01AUG23	01AUG23	C	C
2nd	15OCT24	01JAN22	01DEC13	15OCT24	15OCT24
3rd	01JUL23	01JAN22	15AUG14	01JUL23	01JUL23

USCIS will use Table B: Dates for Filing chart for I-485 employment-based filings in January 2026. See: USCIS Visa Bulletin Dates

MU Law Analysis

EB-1: EB-1 China and EB-1 India each moved forward in the January 2026 Visa Bulletin. All other EB-1 categories remain current.

• EB-1 China: 1 week
• EB-1 India: 11 months

EB-2: EB-2 categories made the following progress forward in the January 2026 Visa Bulletin: 

• EB-2 All Chargeability, EB-2 India, EB-2 Mexico, and EB-2 Philippines: 2 months
• EB-2 China: 3 months 

EB-3: EB-3 categories made the following progress forward in the January 2026 Visa Bulletin:

• EB-3 All Chargeability, EB-3 Mexico, and EB-3 Philippines: 1 week
• EB-3 China: 1 month
• EB-3 India: 7 weeks

October 2024 Visa Bulletin: Movement Forward for EB-3

The Department of State has just issued the October 2024 Visa Bulletin, the first of the new Fiscal Year. This blog post analyzes this month's Visa Bulletin.

Visa Bulletin

Table A: Final Action Dates - Consular applicants with these priority dates or earlier may be approved for their Green Card (Permanent Residency card) or Immigrant Visa appointment:

Table B: Dates of Filing - Adjustment of Status applicants with these priority dates or earlier may file their Form I-485:

MU Law Analysis

EB-1 and EB-2: The Visa Bulletin for categories EB-1 and EB-2 made nearly no movement from September 2024. Only China EB-1 and EB-2 made forward progress of less than a month.

EB-3: The EB-3 categories for Rest of World, Mexico, and Philippines moved forward roughly 2 years from the September 2024 visa bulletin, closely mirroring the June 2024 visa bulletin which was issued before the DOS began rolling back visa numbers for the rest of the fiscal year.

EB-3 India moved forward less than one month, while EB-3 China retrogressed 5 months from the September 2024 Visa Bulletin.

EB-1, EB-3, EB-4, and EB-5 Green Cards Unavailable through September 2024

Last week, the Department of State announced that all available Green Cards had been issued for EB-1 and EB-4 categories.

The Department of State announced earlier last month that the limits had been reached for EB-3 and EB-3 Other Workers and EB-5 unreserved categories.

For any category that is announced as “Unavailable”, Green Cards will not be issued to consular applicants completing an Immigrant Visa interview under that category, and Adjustment of Status applications filed under that category will not be approved until the new fiscal year, which begins October 1, 2024.

The following categories are now unavailable until October 1, 2024:

• EB-1
• EB-3
• EB-3 other workers
• EB-4
• EB-5 unreserved

As discussed in MU's blog on the September 2024 visa bulletin, visa unavailability is temporary through September 2024, and new immigrant visa numbers will become available in all categories beginning October 1, 2024.

PREMIUM PROCESSING WILL EXPAND TO INCLUDE CERTAIN PENDING EB-1 AND EB-2 I-140 PETITIONS

As part of its initiative to expand premium processing eligibility, on May 24, 2022, USCIS issued a news alert that its premium processing program will be expanded to include certain pending I-140 petitions filed under the EB-1 and EB-2 categories.

This expansion of premium processing only applies to certain previously filed Form I-140 petitions and will occur in phases:

·         Beginning June 1, 2022, USCIS will accept Form I-907 premium processing upgrade requests for E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before Jan. 1, 2021.

·         Beginning July 1, 2022, USCIS will accept Form I-907 premium processing upgrade requests for E21 NIW petitions received on or before June 1, 2021, and E13 multinational executive and manager petitions received on or before March 1, 2021.

New (initial) I-140 filings for the categories above are not eligible for premium processing at this time.

USCIS will reject any premium processing requests for the classifications above that are filed before the appropriate start date.