The October 2026 Visa Bulletin: what it means for pending family and employment cases

October starts a new fiscal year and a new supply of immigrant visas. Here is how to read this month’s bulletin and decide whether your case can move.

By Margit LindqvistManaging partner

Oct. 1, 2026 · 5 min read

**Ellis Island Immigration Museum hall**Photo: MartinThoma, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The State Department has published the October 2026 Visa Bulletin. October is the first month of the government’s fiscal year, when a new year’s supply of immigrant visas becomes available.

This update explains how to read the bulletin. It does not repeat this month’s dates. Those are in the bulletin itself, linked at the end, and they apply only to October.

Two charts answer two different questions

Each bulletin has two charts for every family and employment category.

Final action dates show when a green card can actually be approved.
Dates for filing are usually later dates, and show when you may submit your application and wait in line with it on file.

Each month, USCIS says which of the two charts it will accept for applications filed inside the United States. It posts that choice on its filing charts page, usually within a week after the bulletin comes out.

Find your priority date and your category

Your priority date is your place in line. In a family case, it is usually the date USCIS received the I-130 petition. In most employment cases, it is the date the PERM application was filed.

Then find your category, such as F2A or EB-2, and your country of chargeability. That is usually your country of birth, which may differ from your citizenship.

If your date is current

If your priority date is earlier than the date shown for your category and country, your case can move this month.

In the United States, you may be able to file for adjustment of status, if USCIS is accepting the chart your date falls under.
Abroad, the National Visa Center schedules the immigrant visa interview once your documents are complete.

If your date is not current

Your place in line holds. Dates can move forward, stand still or move back from month to month, so a date that is close now may not be next month.

Sources

Published Oct. 1, 2026. If USCIS changes its chart choice for October, this page will be updated and the change dated here.

Not legal advice. Updates are general information about the law, dated when published, and may not reflect later changes. Reading them does not create an attorney-client relationship. To talk about your case, schedule a consultation.