Visa Bulletin: September 2026 - Categories Hold as the FY2026 Limit Lands at 186,317

The September 2026 Visa Bulletin is out. It is the last bulletin of Fiscal Year 2026, and the employment-based charts barely moved: one line advanced, and everything else sits exactly where August left it. The Dates for Filing chart is identical to August in every cell.

For now, use the Final Action Dates chart (Chart A). As per the rules, Chart A applies unless USCIS posts a notice authorizing the Dates for Filing chart instead. That notice goes up on the USCIS Adjustment of Status Filing Charts page, usually within a week of the bulletin's release. It had not posted for September as of publication, and employment-based filings have used Chart A every month since May. Check the page before you file.

The FY2026 employment-based limit is finally on paper

Every bulletin from October 2025 through August 2026 described the worldwide employment-based level the same way: "at least 140,000." That is the statutory floor, used when the Department does not yet have the data it needs to run the real calculation. USCIS supplied that data on July 24, 2026.

The September bulletin publishes the result. The FY2026 worldwide employment-based preference limit is 186,317, roughly 46,000 numbers above the floor, reflecting family-sponsored visas that went unused last year and fall down to the employment-based categories under INA Section 201.

The per-country limit moves with it, from 25,620 to 28,862. The Department notes that this figure excludes EB-5 carryover under INA 203(b)(5)(B); with those numbers included, the per-country limit is 29,136 and the dependent area limit is 8,325.

That per-country figure is the most useful number in this bulletin for anyone modeling green card timelines. It is calculated as seven percent of the combined family and employment annual totals, which means a larger employment-based pool lifts the ceiling for every oversubscribed chargeability area at once. It also sets a realistic baseline for what FY2027 might look like once numbers reset on October 1.

India: EB-1 flat for a second month, EB-2 and EB-5 still unavailable

EB-1 India held at October 15, 2022, unchanged from August. The bulletin repeats its caution that high demand and number use by applicants chargeable to India may make it necessary to render the category unavailable before the fiscal year ends. For anyone in EB-1 India whose priority date is already current, that remains a reason to file rather than pace the case.

EB-3 India held at January 1, 2014.

EB-2 India and EB-5 India (unreserved) both remain Unavailable, as expected, through the close of FY2026. No immigrant numbers will be issued in either category before October 1, 2026. Priority dates are unaffected and a pending or approved I-140 remains valid.

The EB-5 set-aside categories, Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure, remain Current for every country, including India.

China also stood still

After advancing in two categories in August, China posted no movement in September. EB-1 China held at July 1, 2023, EB-2 China at September 1, 2021, and EB-3 China at January 1, 2022. EB-3 Other Workers held at May 1, 2019 and EB-5 unreserved at December 1, 2016.

Rest of world, Mexico, and the Philippines

EB-3 held at September 1, 2024 for all chargeability areas and for Mexico, after advancing one month in August. Philippines EB-3 held at August 1, 2023.

EB-3 Other Workers held at April 1, 2022 for all chargeability areas and Mexico, and at December 1, 2021 for the Philippines. EB-1, EB-2, and EB-5 unreserved remain Current across all three.

EB-4 and Certain Religious Workers advance two months

The single movement in the employment-based Final Action Dates chart: EB-4 and Certain Religious Workers advanced from October 15, 2022 to December 15, 2022, uniformly across every chargeability area. Both categories sit at January 1, 2023 on the Dates for Filing chart, unchanged.

A two-month advance in the final month of a fiscal year usually reflects the Department working down remaining allocation rather than signaling a trend. Treat it as an opportunity for cases sitting in that window, not as a forecast for October.

A new warning on EB-5, tighter language on EB-2

The September bulletin adds a note that was not in August: demand and increased number use in the EB-5 unreserved category may require retrogressing the final action date or making the category unavailable before the fiscal year ends on September 30.

The standing EB-2 warning also tightened. In August, the Department said retrogression or unavailability might be necessary "in the coming months." In September, that language becomes "before the end of the fiscal year." Both warnings are written at the category level rather than attached to any single chargeability area, which means they reach cases outside the countries that usually absorb this kind of movement.

The practical reading: a category can be pulled mid-month. If a case is documentarily qualified and eligible to file, September is not a month to pace it.

Why the dates have behaved this way all year

The Department states that immigrant visa issuance rates for nationals of certain countries have declined as a result of administration actions, citing Presidential Proclamation 10949, Presidential Proclamation 10998, and its immigrant visa processing updates for nationalities identified as high risk of public benefits usage. To keep FY2026 numbers from going unused, the Department has advanced both filing dates and final action dates across a range of categories in recent months.

The same paragraph carries the caveat: as additional demand materializes, or if those administration actions are amended, retrogression may become necessary to hold issuances within annual limits.

This is the operating context for the entire fiscal year of bulletins. The forward movement seen across FY2026 is a numbers-allocation response to reduced consular throughput elsewhere, not a structural loosening, and it can reverse.

What this means for HR and mobility teams

September is a closing month, and the calendar is doing more work than the charts.

Start by running your list of employees who are eligible to file today against the Final Action Dates chart rather than the more generous filing chart. Anyone eligible now should be moving now. Numbers that go unused when the fiscal year closes on September 30 do not carry over in any way an individual applicant can rely on.

Treat the EB-2 and EB-5 unreserved warnings as live risk rather than boilerplate. Both categories carry an explicit possibility of retrogression or an unavailable designation before September 30. If you have documentarily qualified cases in either, prioritize them this month.

Get October-eligible cases assembled before the reset rather than after it. Civil documents, Form I-693 medical exams, and updated employer support letters collected now mean packages can go out in the first days of October instead of being built then. Employees who file in that first week benefit most from a fresh annual allocation.

Finally, plan your fourth quarter around the October bulletin rather than this one. It opens FY2027 with a new annual limit and typically publishes in the second half of September. September's stability is not a forecast for what October brings.