July 2026 Visa Bulletin: Which Green Card Dates Moved?

What changed for EB-2 and EB-3 in July 2026?

This is the conversation that comes up every summer, and it never gets easier to deliver: EB-2 India is Unavailable for the rest of fiscal year 2026. Not slow. Not backlogged by another few months. Unavailable — meaning India's pro-rated annual limit in that category has been fully used, and the State Department cannot issue a single additional EB-2 immigrant visa, or approve a single additional adjustment of status, to an India-chargeable applicant until October 1, 2026. The bulletin's own language says the category should reopen no earlier than the cutoff announced back in May 2026.

Here's the part people misread every time this happens: Unavailable is not a denial. If you have a pending I-485 in EB-2 India, USCIS isn't rejecting your case — it's parking it. Nothing about your underlying eligibility changed. You wait for the fiscal year to reset, the same way water waits behind a dam gate. I've seen applicants panic and start exploring drastic options (withdrawing petitions, switching employers mid-process) over an Unavailable listing that resolves itself in twelve weeks. Don't do that without talking to counsel first.

Elsewhere in EB-2, the picture is calmer: Current for every other chargeability area, and China holds steady at September 1, 2021. The real movement this month is in EB-3, which advanced across the board — worldwide to August 1, 2024, China to December 22, 2021, and India to January 1, 2014. That last one matters more than the modest advance suggests, because EB-3 India is now actually usable while its EB-2 counterpart is dark. I'm already fielding questions from India-chargeable applicants weighing an EB-2-to-EB-3 downgrade with their employer. It's a real strategy, not a gimmick, but it needs a labor certification and PERM history that supports the lower category — get your attorney to run the numbers before you request it.

Why did EB-1 India retrogress?

EB-1 India pulled back to October 15, 2022 this month — a genuine retrogression, and one the State Department attributes to heavier-than-expected demand and number use from India-chargeable EB-1 filers. EB-1 is still Current everywhere else, with China at June 1, 2023.

Retrogression is one of those terms that sounds worse than it usually is in practice. It means a date that was current — or later than it is now — has moved backward. If your priority date cleared in June and doesn't clear in July, you don't refile, you don't lose your place, you don't restart the clock. USCIS and the consulates simply hold the file until the date becomes current again. The one category where retrogression really bites this month is EB-5 unreserved for India, now also Unavailable, while EB-5 China sits at December 1, 2016. If you're an EB-5 India investor watching this, the same patience-not-panic rule applies.

Which chart should you use to file in July 2026?

For employment-based I-485s, USCIS has designated the Final Action Dates chart for the third consecutive month — the stricter of the two available charts, which means fewer people qualify to file this month than they would under the Dates for Filing chart. I mention the streak because it tells you something about the near-term mood at USCIS: they've been conservative for three months running, and there's no signal they're about to loosen that.

Family-sponsored filers, don't assume the same chart applies to you — USCIS announces family and employment chart designations separately every month. Filing under the wrong chart's cutoff dates is an instant rejection, not a request for correction, so check uscis.gov the week before you file, every single time, no exceptions.

How did family-based categories move?

Modest movement on the family side this month. F2A — spouses and children of green card holders — sits at a worldwide final action date of January 1, 2025. Close to current, genuinely close, but not there yet, so you still need a priority date ahead of that cutoff. Mexico F2A trails at January 1, 2024.

The longer backlogs are where the real story is, and it's not a good one. F1 worldwide sits at February 1, 2018. F2B at November 22, 2017. F3 at April 15, 2012. F4 — siblings of US citizens — is stuck at January 1, 2009, which means someone filing an F4 petition today is looking at a wait measured in decades, not years. Mexico and the Philippines lag even further behind the worldwide numbers in most categories: Mexico F1 is back at November 8, 2007, Mexico F4 at April 8, 2001, and India F4 at November 1, 2006. I say this to clients bluntly because sugar-coating it does nobody any favors: if you're filing an F3 or F4 petition for a sibling in India or Mexico right now, plan your life assuming it clears sometime after your petition's beneficiary has had children of their own.

What this means if you're mid-process right now

If your priority date is earlier than the July final action date for your category and country, you're in a position to move — check your I-797 approval notice (employment) or I-130 receipt (family) against the tables below and act. If it isn't there yet, the discipline that actually helps is checking monthly rather than obsessively: the State Department publishes each new bulletin around the second week of the prior month, so there's no benefit to refreshing the page daily.

For EB-2 India applicants specifically, mark October 2026 on your calendar. That's when the new fiscal year resets annual limits and the category is expected to reopen. If you're going the consular route and are documentarily qualified, keep your contact information current with the National Visa Center now — outdated contact details are one of the most common, entirely avoidable causes of a bounced interview notice, and that's a delay stacked on top of one you can't control.

July 2026 Visa Bulletin — Employment-Based Final Action Dates

July 2026 Visa Bulletin — Family-Based Final Action Dates (selected)

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