Visa Bulletin Predictions 2026-27

An essential document for Green Card applicants across all preference categories under Employment, Family, and Diversity. It serves as a waiting list tracker, allowing them to understand their application’s position in the Green Card application line. The line exists because the number of applications filed each year is always more than the number USCIS can process due to the unavailability of suitable infrastructure and statutory limits on the number of overall green cards that can be issued each year, and limits on green cards that can be issued to applicants of a particular country.

USCIS publishes the visa bulletin every month between the 10th and the 15th, indicating how one’s application on the waiting list is likely to move in the succeeding month. There are two tables that one needs to track in each month’s visa bulletin- the Dates of Filing table and the Final Action Dates table.

What is a priority date?

Every green card applicant receives a receipt from USCIS when the processing of Form I-130 is complete. The receipt is officially called the Notice of Action or Form I-797C. Every receipt has two crucial pieces of information for any Green card applicant: the first is the tracking number, and the other is called the Priority date.

What is the “Dates of the filing” table, and what does it mean to be current?

The Dates of Filing table lists the Priority dates for each Green Card category. The table guides every Green Card applicant on when to initiate the follow-up process after the I-130 form is processed. The follow-up for applicants in the US is to file the Form I-485 with the necessary documents. For applicants outside the US, they should initiate the consular filing process.

Suppose the visa bulletin’s date of filing table shows a date against a green card category that matches or is earlier than the priority date of the green card applicant, then it is deemed current. That means the applicant should proceed with the following steps.

What is the “Final Action Date” table, and what does it mean to be current?

USCIS doesn’t issue the Green Card immediately to any Green Card applicant, even after filing Form I-485 is complete or after one has completed the Consular process. The issuance of the green card will not occur even after one has submitted the required documents and attended the interview. The issuance process starts only if one’s priority date becomes current as per the “Final action date” table. The table lists dates corresponding to each green card category in the monthly bulletin.

If a Green Card applicant finds that their priority date matches or is earlier than the date in the “Final action date” table in the visa bulletin, it means they must start completing the remaining part of the green card application process so that USCIS can issue the green card, or they need to wait for just the issuance of the card. You can stay up-to-date with the Visa Bulletin or subscribe to Our Newsletter.

Fiscal Year 2026-2027 & New Green Cards

One needs to understand that USCIS doesn’t follow the standard calendar-year nomenclature for immigration-related issues; instead, every US Immigration year starts on October 1st and ends on September 30th. According to the U.S. fiscal year, the new year will commence on October 1, 2025. We already know how the dates are expected to change in October 2025, based on the latest USCIS visa bulletin.

New Green Cards issuance in 2026:

By examining recent yearly issuance patterns and statutory limits, we can expect more than a million green cards to be issued in fiscal year 2026. The number can exceed the million mark if there are unused green card numbers from the fiscal year 2025.
Note: The number will become clear as USCIS issues a Press release in October 2025.
As per the statutory limit:

• For Family preference categories for existing green card holders, we can expect at least 226,000 new green cards to be issued in fiscal year 2026, from F1 Visa to F4 Visa.
• For Employment preference categories from EB-1 to EB-5, the statutory mandate for issuing new Green cards for the fiscal year 2026 is 140,000.
• For the Diversity Visa, we can expect 52,000 new green card issuances in fiscal year 2026. The number will be reduced from the typical 55,000 due to NACARA provisions and statutory deductions.

Other Green card categories with no statutory limits

• The immediate relative category for U.S. citizens, which includes spouses, parents, and unmarried children under the age of 21 of a U.S. citizen, may result in the issuance of between 300,000 and 500,000 new visas.
• In addition to family numbers of US citizens, there are other categories, such as refugees and asylees, as well as green card issuance based on humanitarian or national interest grounds; we have yet to determine a specific number. Still, if we make a judgment based on previous patterns, we expect 8.5% and 4.6% of the new green cards to be issued for these categories, respectively, in 2026.

Based on current Visa Bulletin trends and FY2026 demand dynamics, EB-1 and EB-3 are more likely to see modest forward movement in the coming 1–3 months. EB-2 looks expected to remain more backlogged or show slower movement — demand for EB-2 (esp. India/China chargeability) and carryover prioritization mean EB-2 cutoffs will probably advance more slowly or even hold for several months.

Visa Bulletin January 2026 Predictions is divided into the following subtopics:

• Visa Bulletin January Predictions – Family-Based Categories
• Visa Bulletin January Predictions – Employment-Based Categories

Family-Based Categories :

• Most FB categories to remain flat for All Countries, China, and India.
• Mexico & Philippines should see continued slight forward movement, similar to December (days to a few weeks).
• F2A likely stays stable—no significant advancement expected.

 Employment-Based Categories :

EB-1 : 

• China & India may continue modest monthly advancement (2–4 weeks).
• All other countries should stay Current.

EB-2 :

• Slow forward movement likely for China and India (1–2 weeks).
• All other areas may continue with small monthly advancements.

EB-3 :

• China and India are likely to see a gradual movement (1–3 weeks).
• Worldwide could remain stable or advance slightly.

EB-4 :

• Could see a small monthly advancement until demand stabilizes.

EB-5 (Unreserved) :

• China & India may continue to progress, but at a slower pace than the significant jump in December.
• Other countries should remain Current.

** The content above is provided for informational purposes only. It should not be construed as legal advice on any subject matter. Use of this information does not create an attorney-client relationship. For Legal Advice, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Visa Bulletins for the Fiscal Year 2026-27

December 2025 Visa Bulletin: The December 2025 Visa Bulletin brings a series of targeted advancements across both Family-Based categories-Sponsored and Employment-Based categories. Read the full November Visa Bulletin here.

November 2025 Visa Bulletin: The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released the November 2025 Visa Bulletin. This month’s bulletin shows primarily stable movement, with a few notable advances in Family-Based categories and no retrogressions across Employment-Based categories. Read the full November Visa Bulletin here..

October 2025 Visa Bulletin: The U.S. Department of State has released the October 2025 Visa Bulletin. Compared with September, most categories show forward movement (advancement) this month — some moves are small (days/weeks) and others are larger (months/years), depending on category and chargeability area. Read the full Visa Bulletin here