United States: March 2026 Visa Bulletin – EB-2 Dates for Filing For All Countries Except China Jump Ahead; USCIS to Honor Dates for Filing

The State Department’s March Visa Bulletin shows advancement in almost all employment-based immigrant visa categories, with especially large advances in the EB-2 Dates for Filing category for all countries except China. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced on its own Visa Bulletin-related web page that the agency will accept employment-based adjustment of status applications based on the Visa Bulletin Dates for Filing chart in March.

The Dates for Filing cutoff dates govern when a foreign national may be eligible to submit an adjustment of status application to USCIS. To be eligible to file an employment-based adjustment application in March, foreign nationals must have a priority date that is earlier than the Date for Filing listed for their preference category and country below:

• EB-1: China and India will advance by four months to December 1, 2023. All other countries will continue to be current.
• EB-2: All countries except India and China will become current. India will advance by 11 months to November 1, 2014. China will remain at January 1, 2022.
• EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers: China will remain at January 1, 2022, and India will remain at August 15, 2014. All other countries except the Philippines will advance by three and half months to January 15, 2024. The State Department sources for EB-3 Philippines are inconsistent – the official Visa Bulletin pdf document lists January 1, 2024 as the cutoff date; the State Department website lists January 15, 2024 as the cutoff date.
• EB-5: For the EB-5 Unreserved categories, China will advance by five weeks to October 1, 2016, and India will remain at May 1, 2024. All other countries will remain current. The EB-5 set-aside categories (Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure) will also remain current.

Under the March Bulletin, Final Action cutoff dates for issuance of an immigrant visa or approval of an adjustment of status application will be as follows: 

• EB-1: China and India will advance by one month to March 1, 2023. All other countries will continue to be current.
• EB-2: China will remain at September 1, 2021, and India will advance by two months to September 15, 2013. All other countries will advance by six and a half months to October 15, 2024.
• EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers: China will remain at May 1, 2021, and India will remain at November 15, 2013. The Philippines will advance by two months to August 1, 2023. All other countries will advance by four months to October 1, 2023.
• EB-5: For the EB-5 Unreserved categories, China will remain at August 15, 2016, and India will remain at May 1, 2022. All other countries will remain current. The EB-5 set-aside categories (Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure) will also remain current.

The complete list of dates for each chart is located below.