Visa Bulletin: Current Priority Dates (September 2026)

Published 7 September 2026

This page tracks the current Visa Bulletin and is updated each month when the State Department publishes a new one. It currently reflects the Visa Bulletin for September 2026, issued 10 August 2026.

The Visa Bulletin decides when a green card applicant can move forward. If you have an approved petition in a preference category, your priority date has to become current before you can file for adjustment of status or be issued an immigrant visa. This page explains how to read the charts, then gives the current ones.

The one thing most people get wrong

There are two charts each month — Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing — and they are used for different things.

If you are filing Form I-485 (adjustment of status) inside the United States, USCIS decides each month which chart applies, and it can differ between family and employment categories. For September 2026, USCIS says:

• Family-sponsored: use the Dates for Filing chart.
• Employment-based: use the Final Action Dates chart.

That determination is republished monthly by USCIS at Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin, and it is the page to check before you file — not this one, and not last month's.

Reading a chart: find your category in the left column, move across to the column for your country of birth (not citizenship, and not where you live now). If the cell says C, the category is current and you may file regardless of priority date. If it shows a date, you may act only if your priority date is earlier than that date. U means unavailable — no numbers are being issued at all.

Why this matters differently in South Florida

Only four chargeability areas are oversubscribed and get their own columns: China (mainland-born), India, Mexico and the Philippines. Everyone else falls under “All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed.”

That first column is the one most South Florida applicants use. Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, Brazil, Argentina and the Dominican Republic are all in it. If you were born in one of those countries, the separate India and China columns — which is where most of the alarming commentary about decade-long backlogs comes from — do not apply to you.

Family-sponsored — Dates for Filing

The operative chart for family-based adjustment of status in September 2026.

F2A is current for every country. Spouses and minor children of green card holders can file now regardless of priority date. That is the single most consequential line on the chart for family cases, and it will not necessarily still be true next month.

Family-sponsored — Final Action Dates

Used for immigrant visa issuance at a consulate, and for approving an already-filed I-485.

On F2A the bulletin adds a wrinkle worth knowing: numbers exempt from the per-country limit go to applicants from all countries with priority dates earlier than 22AUG25. Numbers subject to it go to applicants from every country except Mexico with dates from 22AUG25 up to 22AUG26. All Mexican F2A numbers are exempt.

Employment-based — Final Action Dates

The operative chart for employment-based adjustment of status in September 2026.

EB-2 India and EB-5 Unreserved India are both marked U — unavailable. No numbers are being issued in those categories this month.

For anyone not chargeable to China or India, most of this chart is current: EB-1, EB-2 and all three EB-5 set-asides are C in the first column.

Employment-based — Dates for Filing

September is the last month of the fiscal year, and that changes things

Fiscal year 2026 ends on 30 September 2026. Three consequences follow, and they are the reason this particular bulletin is worth reading closely rather than skimming.

Dates have been advancing for an unusual reason. The bulletin states plainly that immigrant visa issuance has fallen for nationals of certain countries as a result of recent proclamations and processing changes, and that dates for filing and final action dates have therefore been advanced across categories so the available FY2026 numbers get used. In other words, some of this year's forward movement reflects reduced demand elsewhere rather than a structural improvement.

State has explicitly warned of retrogression. The bulletin flags three categories where dates may move backwards or become unavailable before the year ends: EB-1 India, EB-2 generally, and EB-5 Unreserved. It also notes that any category can be made unavailable if an annual or per-country limit is hit. A date that is current today is not a promise about next month.

DV-2026 ends with the fiscal year. Diversity visa entitlement for DV-2026 selectees expires on 30 September 2026, with no extension and no carry-over — and the bulletin cautions that numbers could run out before that date. If you were selected in DV-2026 and have not completed your case, this is not a deadline to plan around casually.

The October 2026 bulletin starts fiscal year 2027 with a fresh allocation, which is why October figures are usually the most closely watched of the year. It normally publishes in mid-September; this page will be updated when it does.

The numbers behind the charts

For FY2026 the annual limits are 226,000 family-sponsored and 186,317 employment-based, with a per-country cap of 28,862 (7%) and a dependent-area cap of 8,247 (2%). The per-country cap is why India and China have separate columns: it applies equally to every country regardless of population, so high-demand countries queue longer.

Allocations in this bulletin were made against demand reported by 10 August 2026. That lag is normal and explains why the charts can look out of step with what applicants are experiencing.

What to do with this

• Find your priority date — it is on your I-797 approval notice for the underlying petition, and for most employment cases it is the date the labor certification or petition was filed.
• Use your country of birth, not your citizenship. Cross-chargeability to a spouse's country of birth is sometimes available and can matter a great deal if one spouse was born in an oversubscribed country.
• Check the USCIS chart page before filing, because which chart applies changes month to month.
• Do not file on a date you have read here without confirming it against the current bulletin. This page is updated monthly, but a bulletin can be superseded between updates.

Getting help

Priority date and chargeability questions are where do-it-yourself green card cases most often go wrong, because the mistake is invisible until a filing is rejected or a petition ages out. If you want representation in South Florida, our directory lists green card lawyers in Miami, family immigration lawyers and business immigration lawyers, or you can browse all listed immigration attorneys and immigration lawyers in Miami by location.

Primary sources

• U.S. Department of State — Visa Bulletin for September 2026
• U.S. Department of State — The Visa Bulletin (current month)
• USCIS — Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin
• USCIS — Visa Availability and Priority Dates

This page summarises a government publication and is general information, not legal advice. The Visa Bulletin changes monthly and categories can retrogress or become unavailable without warning. Always confirm against the current bulletin linked above, and speak to a licensed immigration attorney about your own case.

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