November 2026 filing rules: USCIS says green-card applicants in both family-sponsored and employment-based preference categories may use the Dates for Filing charts in the State Department's November Visa Bulletin to determine whether they can submit Form I-485 during November. The bulletin moves several family-based cutoff dates forward by a year, while most employment-based filing dates barely change. Eligibility to file is not approval of a green card.
The Department of State has issued its November 2026 Visa Bulletin, and USCIS has selected Dates for Filing for both sets of preference cases. That choice matters to people applying for permanent residence inside the United States: it can let an otherwise eligible applicant file Form I-485 before an immigrant visa number becomes available for final approval. USCIS makes this chart selection month by month.
Which family-based applicants can file in November?
For F2A—spouses and qualifying unmarried children under 21 of lawful permanent residents—the November Dates for Filing table shows C (current) for every chargeability area. There is no priority-date cutoff under that filing chart, but each applicant must still meet the requirements for adjustment of status. The separate Final Action Dates chart is not current for F2A, so a filing opportunity is not a promise of immediate approval.
For countries covered by the bulletin's All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed column, other November family filing cutoffs are:
F1 (unmarried adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens): February 1, 2021 — up from February 1, 2020.
F2B (unmarried adult sons and daughters of permanent residents): September 1, 2020 — up from September 1, 2019.
F3 (married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens): November 1, 2015 — up from November 1, 2014.
F4 (siblings of adult U.S. citizens): November 1, 2012 — up from November 1, 2011.
China and India share these particular filing dates, except India has a separate F4 cutoff of February 1, 2007. Mexico and the Philippines have different cutoffs in several family categories; applicants must use their actual chargeability column rather than a worldwide example.
What about employment-based green cards?
For the All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed column, the November Dates for Filing table says:
EB-1: current.
EB-2: March 15, 2026.
EB-3 skilled workers and professionals: August 1, 2024.
EB-3 Other Workers: July 1, 2022, moving forward from June 1, 2022.
EB-4: January 1, 2025.
EB-5 unreserved: current. The three EB-5 set-aside categories are also current in the November filing chart.
Most employment-based filing cutoffs stay where they were in October. China and India have separate dates—for example, EB-2 filing dates are January 1, 2023 for China and January 15, 2015 for India. Applicants should not apply a worldwide cutoff to a country-specific backlog.
Why have some approval dates moved when filing dates did not?
The bulletin publishes two separate charts. Dates for Filing controls when documents may be submitted, if USCIS has authorized its use for that month. Final Action Dates controls when a visa number is available for issuance or a green card can be approved. For example, the worldwide EB-2 Final Action Date moved from January 1 to April 1, 2025; worldwide EB-3 moved from May 15 to June 15, 2024. Those changes do not replace the November filing-chart cutoffs. See FACTUM Immigration's priority-date explainer for the distinction.
How to tell whether you can submit Form I-485
Check that your case is eligible for adjustment of status in the United States, not just an immigrant visa abroad.
Find your preference category, priority date and appropriate country of chargeability (usually your country of birth, subject to exceptions).
Open the official USCIS filing-charts page and confirm that November 2026 uses Dates for Filing for your family- or employment-based category.
Use that category and country in the November 2026 Visa Bulletin. A listed cutoff ordinarily requires a priority date earlier than the printed date—not equal to it; C means no cutoff in that category's chart.
Confirm all other I-485 requirements and current USCIS filing instructions before submitting. Being allowed to file based on the chart does not itself authorize employment or travel and does not guarantee approval.
People applying through a U.S. consulate abroad should follow the State Department and National Visa Center instructions; the USCIS I-485 chart choice does not independently govern consular document submission. The November tables apply to November, not to an I-485 filed under October's dates or to an assumed December chart.