July 2026 Visa Bulletin Released: Family-Based Categories Move Forward

The State Department has just released the July 2026 Visa Bulletin. USCIS has announced that family-based applicants may continue using the Dates of Filing chart to determine when they can file for an adjustment of status. Employment-based applicants must continue using the Final Action Dates chart.

Employment-based categories

Here’s a recap of what changed for the employment-based categories:

• Final action dates for EB-1 India retrogressed by 2 months, back to October 15, 2022.
• Final action dates for EB-2 India are now unavailable, as the cap has been met for the fiscal year
• Final action dates for EB-5 Unreserved India also retrogressed to unavailable
• Final action dates for EB-1 China advanced by 2 months, to June 1, 2023. Final action dates for EB-2 China remain the same.

Family-based categories

For family-based categories, the July 2026 Visa Bulletin shows more forward movement:

• Final action dates for F1 visas for all areas, China, and India advanced by 5 months, to February 1, 2018. This is the largest single-category gain in the bulletin.
• Dates of filing for F2A visas remain current for all areas.
• Final action dates for F2B visas advanced by 2 months ,to November 22, 2017, for China, India, and all other chargeability areas except Mexico and the Philippines. Final action dates for F2B for the Philippines advanced by approximately 5 weeks, to May 15, 2013.
• Final action dates for F3 visas for all areas advanced by between 1 and 3 months.
• Final action dates for F4 visas advanced by between 0 and 54 days for all areas.

For a more complete look at these changes, check out our main Visa Bulletin page.