The Department of State has released the July 2026 Visa Bulletin, bringing challenging news for employment-based green card applicants, particularly those from India. As anticipated due to high demand, the Final Action Date for the EB-1 category for India will retrogress by two months to October 15, 2022.
Furthermore, the State Department confirmed that the EB-2 India and EB-5 India (Unreserved) categories have reached their annual limits and will remain "Unavailable" for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2026. This means no new immigrant visas or adjustment of status applications can be approved in these categories until the new fiscal year begins in October.
There is some positive movement: the EB-3 India Final Action Date will advance slightly by two weeks to January 1, 2014, and EB-3 China will advance by nearly five months to December 22, 2021. Most other employment-based categories will remain current or see modest advancement. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced it will require employment-based applicants to use the Final Action Dates chart, rather than the Dates for Filing chart, for July submissions. Applicants must ensure their priority date is earlier than the posted cutoff date to be eligible to file an adjustment of status application next month.