September 2026 Visa Bulletin: Everything Holds, But EB-1 India Is on Warning

The Department of State’s September 2026 Visa Bulletin is the last of fiscal year 2026, and on its face it is the quietest bulletin in months: employment-based final action dates for EB-1, EB-2, EB-3 and EB-5 unreserved are unchanged from August. No forward movement, no retrogression. EB-4 advanced by roughly two months.

The warning attached to it is not quiet at all. State cautioned that high demand could push EB-1 India, EB-2, and unreserved EB-5 into unavailability or retrogression before September 30, 2026 if the annual limits are consumed early.

USCIS has confirmed that employment-based adjustment applicants must use the Final Action Dates chart (Chart A) for September 2026.

Employment-Based Final Action Dates (September 2026)

Category	Worldwide	India	China	Philippines
EB-1	Current	Oct 15, 2022	Jul 1, 2023	Current
EB-2	Current	Unavailable	Sep 1, 2021	Current
EB-3 Skilled/Prof	Sep 1, 2024	Jan 1, 2014	Jan 1, 2022	Aug 1, 2023

Verify every date against travel.state.gov before filing. This table reflects the September 2026 bulletin as published; Dates for Filing (Chart B) values are published separately in the official bulletin.

Check the Visa Bulletin Priority Date Tracker to see where your priority date sits.

Why a flat bulletin in September is not good news

A month with no movement usually reads as stability. In September it reads as rationing.

Employment-based visas are capped at roughly 140,000 per fiscal year plus family-preference spillover. By the twelfth month of that year, the department is managing the last of an allocation it has been spending since October. Holding every date flat while simultaneously warning about mid-month unavailability is what it looks like when demand has caught up with supply and the department is counting carefully to avoid overshooting the statutory limit.

The three flagged categories are flagged for different reasons.

EB-1 India is the consequential one

EB-1 has been the release valve for the India backlog. An extraordinary-ability, outstanding-researcher, or multinational-manager case reaches a priority date roughly a decade ahead of EB-2 or EB-3 for the same applicant. That gap is why EB-1A filing volume from India has climbed so sharply — it is the only employment category where an India-born applicant can realistically see a current date inside a working career.

If EB-1 India goes Unavailable, the last fast path closes, and it closes for people who made multi-year decisions on the assumption it would stay open. If you have an approved EB-1 I-140 with a priority date at or before October 15, 2022 and you have not filed your I-485, this is the month to move.

Our comparison of EB-1A and EB-2 NIW covers what each category actually requires.

EB-2 is flagged across the board, not just for India

EB-2 India has now been Unavailable since the July 2026 bulletin — three consecutive months, which is unusual and tells you FY2026 demand ran well ahead of supply.

But the September warning is not India-specific. EB-2 Worldwide is listed as Current, and a Current category can be made Unavailable in a single bulletin if the annual limit is exhausted. If you are EB-2 with a current date and an unfiled I-485, treat the remaining window as uncertain rather than guaranteed.

Unreserved EB-5

The reserved set-asides created by the 2022 reform have absorbed much of the recent demand, and the pressure now shows in the unreserved pool. See our EB-5 guide and the separate rural set-aside path, which has consistently remained Current.

What “Unavailable” means, and what it does not

Three things get confused here, and the difference determines what you can do about it.

Current — visa numbers are available for any priority date. You can file (subject to the applicable chart) and USCIS can approve.

A cutoff date — only priority dates earlier than the listed date can be finally approved.

Unavailable (“U”) — no visa numbers at all in that category that month. Nothing can be approved.

What Unavailable does not do:

• It does not deny or invalidate a pending I-485. The case sits and resumes when numbers return.
• It does not cancel an EAD or advance parole already issued from a pending I-485. Your work authorisation and travel document remain valid on their own terms.
• It does not affect your priority date, which is fixed by your underlying petition.

What it does do is stop approvals this month, and stop new I-485 filings in that category.

October 1 resets the annual limits

The single most important structural fact about a September bulletin: the fiscal year ends September 30 and the allocation resets October 1.

Categories that exhaust supply in August or September routinely return in October with dates restored, and sometimes with real forward movement, because the department begins the year with a full allocation and an incentive to use it. A September unavailability is, in the ordinary course, an end-of-year supply condition rather than a structural change.

Two cautions against reading that too optimistically. The October bulletin is often conservative while the department assesses demand. And the underlying India backlog is a per-country limit problem, not a timing problem — it does not resolve on a fiscal calendar. See visa retrogression and green card wait times for Indian applicants.

The October 2026 bulletin, published in mid-September, is the one that tells you what FY2027 actually looks like. Whether EB-2 India returns with a date at all — and where that date lands relative to the September 2013 cutoff it held before going Unavailable — is the number to watch.

What to do this month

EB-1, priority date current or close, I-485 not filed. Move now. This is the group the warning is aimed at, and the fiscal year ends in weeks.

EB-2 Worldwide, current, I-485 not filed. Same logic, lower urgency. Current is not a commitment for the rest of the month.

EB-2 or EB-3 India, date not current. Nothing this month changes your position. The live levers are downgrading or upgrading between EB-2 and EB-3 when their dates diverge — and EB-3 India at January 2014 against EB-2 India Unavailable is exactly that kind of divergence — or pursuing EB-1A or EB-2 NIW if your record supports it.

I-485 already pending. You are insulated from month-to-month movement in the way that matters. Keep your EAD and advance parole current, and understand AC21 portability before changing jobs.

Children approaching 21. Recalculate your CSPA age now. A category going Unavailable lengthens the wait, and CSPA protection depends on timing that unavailability affects. See the CSPA guide.

Anyone filing an I-485 in the next few weeks. Note the separate deadline: the new Form I-485 edition becomes mandatory September 18, 2026, and older editions will be rejected.

Sources & Citations

All claims in this guide link to primary government sources.

1. 1
   Visa Bulletin For September 2026— U.S. Department of State
2. 2
   Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin— USCIS
3. 3
   September 2026 Visa Bulletin— Murthy Law Firm

Not legal advice. Visa Bulletin dates change monthly, and State’s warnings about mid-month unavailability may or may not materialise. Always confirm current cutoff dates against the official Visa Bulletin at travel.state.gov and the USCIS adjustment of status filing chart page before filing anything. Consult an immigration attorney about your specific case.