The State Department’s October 2026 visa bulletin, released on Oct. 2, 2026, came just two days after the FY 2026 fiscal year ended, a delay that unsettled attorneys across the country.
The bulletin marked the return of the EB‑2 category for India, resetting the final action cutoff to Nov. 1, 2013, after the category had been exhausted in September. The move is the first time that India has seen a usable EB‑2 slot in almost thirteen years.
The other changes include the EB‑1 India cutoff advancing to Feb. 1, 2023, while China’s EB‑1 remains at Jul. 1, 2023. EB‑3 professional and skilled‑worker cutoffs for India stay at Jan. 1, 2014, and the Philippines advance to Aug. 15, 2023. EB‑5 unreserved slots for India also become available again, with a cutoff of Dec. 1, 2023.
Rahul Reddy, a senior attorney at Patel & Co., warned that the bulletin’s lack of spillover data left many applicants in limbo. He said, "We anticipate the next bulletin in early November to finally show how many of the unused slots will be rolled over."
For families like the Kumar household in Bengaluru, the late bulletin means a prolonged wait. Ravi Kumar, who has been waiting for an EB‑2 visa since 2014, said he had to keep renewing his work visa while hoping the new slots would finally open a path to permanent residency.
The State Department has indicated that the next bulletin, expected in early November, should include spillover figures for the remaining categories, potentially easing the backlog for applicants worldwide.