August Visa Bulletin — The final two months of the fiscal year brought both visa backlogs and family-sponsored advancements
The State Department's recently released August Visa Bulletin contains two contrasting pieces of news. In terms of employment-based immigration, the EB-2 category for individuals from India (those with a master's degree or higher and professionals) is currently suspended due to the annual visa quota being reached. Furthermore, there's a warning that even the EB-1 category (for individuals with extraordinary ability, first preference) could be suspended within weeks. On the other hand, for family-based immigration, the approval timeline for spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents (F2A) has been accelerated by approximately 18 months. This situation, where one door is closing while another is opening, is a typical scene towards the end of the federal fiscal year, which concludes on September 30th. This article will explain why visa bulletin dates are moving in this manner and what applicants in each category should prepare for.
◆ Why is the literary door closed every summer — The yearly limit structure
“Immigration law sets a minimum of 140,000 employment-based green cards annually, with a per-country cap of 7 percent to prevent any single country from exceeding that limit.”
The Visa Bulletin is a monthly guide to the green card waiting list published by the Department of State. The determining factor is the priority date, which is the date an immigrant petition was filed. Think of it as a numbered ticket indicating your place in line. Your priority date must be earlier than the date listed in the bulletin for your green card to be approved in that month.
Each permanent residency category has an annual issuance limit, and the fiscal year begins on October 1st and ends on September 30th of the following year. Once the limit is exhausted, the Department of State will either move the date backward (preterition) or declare it unavailable for issuance altogether. Because the year's quota tends to run out by summer, these measures are frequently seen in the July, August, and September bulletins. In the August bulletin, India EB-2 and India EB-5 (general immigrant investor visa quota) have been fully allocated for fiscal year 2026 and are unavailable, following the July bulletin.
Due to the 7% per-country cap, applicants from India and China, who have a large number of applicants, will be placed in separate, longer queues even within the same category. This is why the EB-2 wait for India extends into the tens of years, while applicants from other countries are processed without a wait, coexisting within the same bulletin. A suspension of issuance does not mean the case is invalidated. Your spot in the queue remains, and processing will resume in order when more visas become available. If you have already filed for adjustment of status (I-485), your application will be held in abeyance, and you can continue with subsidiary processes like renewing your work permit in the meantime. It is the door to final approval that is closed, not the entire case.
◆ Employment Immigration — August with a Warning
“The State Department announced that Indian EB-1 visas may be suspended within weeks due to high demand, and EB-2 visas may retrogress or be suspended within the next few months if demand continues.”
The August employment-based immigration bulletin shows slight movements. China's EB-1 has advanced by one month to July 1, 2023. Worldwide EB-3 (bachelor's degree/skilled workers) has advanced by one month to September 1, 2024. China's EB-3 has moved approximately ten days to January 1, 2022. China's EB-2 remains stalled at September 1, 2021, and India's EB-3 remains at January 1, 2014. EB-4, which includes religious workers and others, has advanced by one month to October 15, 2022. EB-1 and EB-2 for most countries other than India and China remain in the current status, proceeding without a waiting period.
While the general quota for EB-5 investment immigration is currently paused for India and has been stopped for China as of December 1, 2016, other countries are current. This ‘India and China are stagnant, while the rest are open but on alert" pattern in employment-based immigration continues into August.
The noteworthy thing is not the visa bulletin itself, but the warning. The mention of a potential retrogression or suspension for EB-2 worldwide indicates that this is not just an issue for applicants from India and China, but also for those from other countries. Just because it's current now does not guarantee it will be current next month. If the visa bulletin closes, the filing of adjustment of status itself will be blocked, so there is no reason to delay filing for employment-based immigration cases with prepared documents. From the employer's perspective, they must also manage the priority date and visa bulletin for their sponsored employees to avoid disruptions in workforce planning.
◆ Family Invitation — Permanent Resident Spouse Time
“The biggest movement in the August family invitation notice is F2A, with the approval date advancing by about 18.6 months for most countries.”
Family-based petitions are moving in the opposite direction. For F2A, which applies to spouses and unmarried children under 21 of lawful permanent residents, the Final Action Date has advanced from January 1, 2025, to July 22, 2026, which is approximately 18 months forward. This means applications newly filed are practically eligible for approval. For unmarried adult children of U.S. citizens (F1), the date has also advanced by more than 10 months to December 15, 2018. For siblings of U.S. citizens (F4), the date has advanced by 8 months globally to September 1, 2009. However, even though F4 has seen significant movement, it still requires a long-term plan, as evident by the fact that approvals are currently for applications filed 17 years ago.
The practical meaning of this advancement lies in the approval stage. Consular interviews for F2A applicants waiting outside the U.S. can proceed on a large scale, and applicants who have filed for adjustment of status within the U.S. are now in a position to receive approval. This is an unusually rapid progression compared to the years of waiting when a U.S. citizen sponsors their spouse. The category for unmarried adult children of U.S. citizens (F2B) also advanced by about a month, reaching January 1, 2018. Regarding F2B, there's one point I always emphasize. The moment a child of a U.S. citizen gets married, their sponsorship category itself disappears. While children of U.S. citizens can move to the F3 category even after marriage, there is no category in immigration law for married children of U.S. citizens. If there are marriage plans while waiting, you must consider the timing along with the sponsor's naturalization date.
However, such significant progress can sometimes reverse if demand surges. In fact, there have been several instances in the past where gates that opened widely in bulletins later retracted several months later. It is safer for those who are currently eligible to complete their procedures within this current trend. The key points to check are whether the National Visa Center (NVC) documents and fees have been fully paid if the invited spouse is outside the United States, or if the Adjustment of Status documents are ready for submission if they are inside the United States.
◆ Reception Chart and October Reset — August Practice
“USCIS announced that for August Adjustment of Status filings, they will use the Priority Date chart for employment-based cases and the Dates for Filing chart for family-sponsored cases.”
The Visa Bulletin has two charts. The Final Action Dates chart indicates the latest date on which a visa can be finally approved and issued in a given month, while the Dates for Filing chart shows the earliest date by which eligible applicants can file for Adjustment of Status (Form I-485) while still in the U.S. USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) determines each month which chart to use for processing applications. For August, employment-based applications will use the more conservative Final Action Dates chart, while family-sponsored applications will use the more lenient Dates for Filing chart. For family-sponsored F2A category, the Dates for Filing is Current, meaning that Adjustment of Status applications can be filed regardless of the priority date.
It is beneficial to file for adjustment of status in advance using the filing date chart. This is because you can apply for work and travel authorization while your I-485 is pending, and once your priority date becomes current, you can simply wait for your turn for approval without further procedures. However, which chart applies can change monthly, so you must reconfirm on the USCIS website immediately before filing. If you file using the wrong chart, your entire application will be rejected, causing a loss of time.
On October 1st, new quotas for the 2027 fiscal year will be released. It is the typical pattern that categories suspended due to exhaustion at the end of the fiscal year will resume issuance with the start of the new year. Cases notified of suspension now are not invalidated, but are in a state of waiting for quotas while maintaining their position in the queue. The September bulletin may contain additional adjustments as it is the last month of the fiscal year, and the October bulletin will outline the distribution of quotas for the new year.
Closing remarks
You can check your priority date on the receipt notice (I-797) you received when you filed your petition. The tasks to attend to this month vary by category. Employment-based visa applicants should compare their priority date with the August approval cut-off date to confirm eligibility for filing. If your category is current, it is advisable to complete the filing while the visa bulletin is open by preparing necessary documents such as your medical examination. For spouses and children of lawful permanent residents (F2A) cases, now is the time to act. If you have not yet filed the petition (I-130), please do so. For already approved cases, check if your immigrant visa application documents or adjustment of status application are ready. Applicants from India who have received a notification of suspension of processing should prepare their documents while awaiting the October visa bulletin, which will be released with the new fiscal year quotas. The visa bulletin changes monthly. It is not uncommon for significant advancements in one month to be followed by retrogression the next, or for a category that was current to close without notice. Noticing your priority date and comparing it with the visa bulletin published in the middle of each month, and having your documents ready to file immediately when the visa bulletin opens, are the surest ways to avoid missing an opportunity.
Disclaimer: This column is for general information purposes only and is not legal advice for your specific case. You should always consult with an attorney who specializes in immigration law for your individual case.
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