United States: May 2026 Visa Bulletin – Main Employment-Based Categories Hold Steady; USCIS to Honor Final Action Dates
April 14, 2026
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At a glance
- EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 Professional & Skilled Worker Final Action Dates remain unchanged in May.
- The China EB-5 Unreserved Final Action Date will advance by three weeks.
- USCIS will accept employment-based adjustment of status applications from foreign nationals with a priority date that is earlier than the Final Action Dates listed in the State Department’s May Visa Bulletin.
A closer look
According to the State Department’s May Visa 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 remain at April 1, 2023. All other countries will continue to be current.
- EB-2: China and India will remain at September 1, 2021 and July 15, 2014, respectively. All other countries will continue to be current.
- EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers: China will remain at June 15, 2021, India will remain at November 15, 2013, and Philippines will remain at August 1, 2023. All other countries will remain at June 1, 2024.
- EB-5: For the EB-5 Unreserved categories, China will advance by three weeks to September 22, 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.
USCIS to honor Final Action Dates in May
USCIS has announced on its own Visa Bulletin web page that the agency will accept adjustment of status applications based on the State Department Final Action Dates chart in May. To be eligible to file an employment-based adjustment of status application next month, foreign nationals must have a priority date that is earlier than the applicable Final Action Date listed below for their preference category and country.
State Department comments on availability of immigrant visas
The State Department’s May Visa Bulletin carries over last month’s note attributing the recent broad advancement in most cutoff dates to the decrease in consular immigrant visa issuance rates, which in turn is due to various actions taken by the Trump administration, including the nationality-based travel ban affecting nationals of almost 40 countries and the immigrant visa processing pause affecting nationals of 75 countries (some of which overlap with travel ban countries). The May Visa Bulletin, however, continues to warn that if demand for immigrant visa numbers increases and/or the government revises its restrictive immigrant visa actions, it may be necessary to retrogress some of these dates later in the fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2026.
The State Department also notes that sufficient demand and increased number use by India in the EB-5 Unreserved visa category may make it necessary to retrogress the Final Action Date or make the category unavailable, in order to hold number use within the maximum allowed under the FY 2026 annual limit. The agency did not provide any indication of when a retrogression might occur.
Final Action Dates for May 2026
EB-1
China: April 1, 2023
India: April 1, 2023
All other countries: Current
EB-2
China: September 1, 2021
India: July 15, 2014
All other countries: Current
EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers
China: June 15, 2021
India: November 15, 2013
Philippines: August 1, 2023
All other countries: June 1, 2024
EB-3 Other Workers
China: February 1, 2019
India: November 15, 2013
Philippines: November 1, 2021
All other countries: February 1, 2022
EB-4
All countries: July 15, 2022
EB-5 Unreserved (Regional Center and Non-Regional Center)
China: September 22, 2016
India: May 1, 2022
All other countries: Current
EB-5 Set-Asides
Rural: Current for all countries
High Unemployment: Current for all countries
Infrastructure: Current for all countries
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.
