The U.S. Department of State publishes the Visa Bulletin every month — the official document millions of people rely on to learn whether their turn for a green card has arrived. The July 2026 edition is one of the most telling of the entire fiscal year: while dates for most of the world keep moving forward, two key categories for India have shut down until October. Here is a breakdown of exactly what changed, why it happened, and what it means for anyone waiting in line.
In short
The July 2026 Visa Bulletin is out; for adjustment of status in July, USCIS directs family-sponsored applicants to the Dates for Filing chart and employment-based applicants to the Final Action Dates chart.
Headline: EB-2 India and EB-5 (unreserved) India are now «Unavailable» (U) for the rest of the fiscal year; EB-1 India retrogressed two months.
For the rest of the world, movement is mostly forward: EB-3 and most family categories advanced, while EB-2 and EB-1 stay «Current».
The DV-2026 diversity visa (the green card lottery) is in its final stretch: eligibility lasts only through September 30, 2026.
Current status as of July 2026. Figures are drawn from the official July 2026 Visa Bulletin (U.S. Department of State, CA/VO date June 2, 2026) and USCIS’s confirmed chart selection for July. Priority dates are revised monthly and can move forward or backward, so verify against the primary source at travel.state.gov and the USCIS page uscis.gov/visabulletininfo before acting.
Contents
What the Visa Bulletin Is and Why It Matters
The Visa Bulletin is a monthly publication from the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs showing which categories and countries have reached the front of the line for an immigrant visa or green card. Congress caps the annual number of green cards in family-sponsored and employment-based categories, and within them limits the share available to nationals of any single country. When demand exceeds supply, a line forms; the bulletin is the official monthly snapshot of that line.
Your place in line is set by your priority date — generally the day an employer or relative filed a petition on your behalf (for employment cases requiring labor certification, the date the Department of Labor accepted it). If your priority date is earlier than the date shown, your turn has come. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, parents, and minor children) are not subject to the caps and do not wait for a bulletin date.
For July 2026, the annual family-sponsored limit is 226,000 and the employment-based limit is at least 140,000. The per-country limit is 7% of the combined total — 25,620 visas — with 2%, or 7,320, for dependent areas. It is this 7% ceiling that creates the multi-year backlogs for India and China.
How to Read the Bulletin: Priority Dates and the Two Charts
Each edition has two tables per category, and they should not be confused. Final Action Dates show when a green card can actually be issued and approved. Dates for Filing show when you can submit paperwork earlier — they are usually more generous. USCIS announces each month which chart to use for adjustment of status filed inside the United States.
For July 2026, USCIS set it this way: all family-sponsored categories file under the Dates for Filing chart, and all employment-based categories under the Final Action Dates chart. The notations are simple: «C» (current) means the line has reached everyone, no date needed; a specific date means only those with an earlier priority date may file; «U» (unavailable) means no visas are available in that category and country right now.
One more concept is chargeability — the country you are «charged» to, which by default is your country of birth, not citizenship. Married couples can sometimes cross-charge to a spouse’s country of birth — a legal way to bypass an especially long line if the partner’s is shorter.
The July 2026 Bulletin at a Glance
The July bulletin is a tale of two realities. India took a real hit in its two most in-demand professional categories, while nearly every other country and category moved forward. Here is a summary of the key movements compared with June.
Category | What changed in July 2026 |
|---|---|
EB-1 (highest priority) | India retrogressed two months to October 15, 2022. China advanced two months to June 1, 2023. All other countries current. |
EB-2 (advanced degrees / exceptional ability) | India is «Unavailable» (U) for the rest of the fiscal year. China held at September 1, 2021. All others current. |
EB-3 (skilled and other workers) | Best movement of the month — forward across all countries. China to December 22, 2021; India to January 1, 2014; rest of world to August 1, 2024. |
EB-5 (investors, unreserved) | India «Unavailable» (U) for the rest of the year. China advanced to December 1, 2016. The set-aside subcategories (rural, high-unemployment, infrastructure) stay current for all, including India and China. |
Family-sponsored | Modest gains — F1, F2B, and F4 advanced two to five months. F2A on the Dates for Filing chart is current for all countries. |
Separately, the bulletin warns that a few more high-demand categories could retrogress or turn «Unavailable» before the fiscal year ends — EB-2 for China and EB-3 for the Philippines.
Employment Categories: Why India Hit a Wall
The short answer: India exhausted its annual limit in these categories. Under the 7%-per-country rule, India simply cannot receive more than a set share of employment visas per year, and demand far exceeds that. Early in the fiscal year, consulates and USCIS approved Indian EB-2 cases very quickly — and the annual quota ran out ahead of schedule. On top of that, there was almost no «spillover» of unused family visas into employment categories this year, which had temporarily rescued the line in the past.
In practice: while EB-2 India sits at «U», no new adjustment-of-status case can be filed in that category and no pending case can be approved until numbers reopen. The State Department expects that in October, with the new fiscal year, the date will likely advance to at least the May 2026 level — but that depends on demand and the new annual quota, and is not guaranteed.
An important nuance for investors: the «unavailable» status hit only the main, unreserved portion of EB-5. All three set-aside subcategories (rural — 20%, high unemployment — 10%, infrastructure — 2%) remain current for every country. For Indian and Chinese investors, that is the one path with immediate number availability right now.
Family Categories: Where the Line Moved
The news here is calmer. The most accessible category is F2A (spouses and minor children of permanent residents): on the Dates for Filing chart it is current for all countries, meaning you can file regardless of priority date. On Final Action Dates, F2A stands at January 1, 2025 for most countries and January 1, 2024 for Mexico.
The other family categories move more slowly, but nearly all advanced in July. F1 (adult unmarried children of U.S. citizens) moved forward several months; F2B (adult unmarried children of residents) and F4 (siblings of U.S. citizens) also advanced. The longest lines still belong to Mexico and the Philippines, where dates run from the early 2000s.
Remember: for July, family-sponsored applicants use the Dates for Filing chart, per USCIS’s decision for the month. That lets some people file earlier than their final-action date arrives.
The DV-2026 Diversity Visa: The Final Stretch
The Diversity Visa program (popularly, the «green card lottery») offers up to 55,000 visas a year to people from countries with historically low immigration to the U.S. For 2026, amendments under NACARA and the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA §5104) cut the real limit to roughly 52,000. No single country may take more than 7% of the annual total.
For DV-2026 winners, one fact is now critical: eligibility lasts only through September 30, 2026. After that date, DV-2026 visas cannot be issued — not to principals, nor to spouses and children. The State Department warns outright that numbers may run out even before the end of September, so delay is risky.
The bulletin lists regional rank cut-offs — visas are available to those whose rank is below the stated number. Here is how the cut-offs climb from July to August:
Region | July 2026 | August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Africa | 55,000 (except: Algeria 40,000, Egypt 31,000) | 60,000 (Algeria 51,250, Egypt 36,000) |
Asia | 35,000 (Nepal 13,000) | 40,000 (Nepal 13,500) |
Europe | 23,000 | 29,000 |
North America (Bahamas) | 50 | Current |
Oceania | 1,700 | 2,050 |
South America and the Caribbean | 3,300 | 4,000 |
For Europe — which covers many post-Soviet countries — the cut-off climbs from 23,000 in July to 29,000 in August, meaning the line keeps opening to higher rank numbers.
Why the U.S. Is Slowing Visa Issuance in 2026
The bulletin itself includes a section explaining the backdrop: issuance rates of immigrant visas for nationals of several countries have dropped because of administration actions on national security. The State Department names the sources directly — Presidential Proclamations 10949 and 10998, and consular processing updates.
Briefly and without editorializing: Proclamation 10949 (June 2025) restricted entry for nationals of a group of countries, and Proclamation 10998 (effective January 1, 2026) expanded the list — nationals of 39 countries, plus holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents, now face full or partial restrictions. The limits mainly affect issuance of immigrant visas and some nonimmigrant visas; they do not apply to visas issued before January 1, 2026.
How this ties to the backlogs: because issuance to some countries dropped, the State Department advanced dates in other categories in prior months so the annual quotas would not go to waste. Now that the numbers have been claimed, it has to pump the brakes — hence the retrogressions and «unavailable» flags near the fiscal year’s end. The administration frames the restrictions as matters of security and vetting quality; critics, including immigration organizations, dispute that rationale. One narrow point relevant to some readers: Turkmenistan’s immigrant-visa issuance is suspended, though the main post-Soviet countries are not on the full lists.
What Comes Next: Outlook Through the Fiscal Year
The State Department planted its own warning flags in the bulletin, and those are worth more than outside predictions. In its words, further retrogression or «unavailability» is possible before September 30, 2026 in oversubscribed categories: EB-2 for China, EB-3 for the Philippines, and further retrogression of EB-1 for India.
On the other hand, October 1 starts a new fiscal year and resets the quotas. The State Department expects EB-2 India to return in October to at least the May 2026 level, and EB-5 unreserved India to at least the June level — but both caveats depend on demand and new annual limits, so treat them as a guide, not a promise.
The practical takeaway is simple: the bulletin is not a one-time check but a monthly habit. Dates can move either way, and USCIS’s choice of chart changes from month to month.
Where to Check Your Status and How to Avoid Scams
The only authoritative sources are government ones. The bulletin itself is published at travel.state.gov; the monthly chart decision for adjustment of status is at uscis.gov/visabulletininfo. DV results and status are checked only through the official Entrant Status Check at dvprogram.state.gov using your confirmation number — the program never emails «winner» notices.
Red flags for steering clear of a middleman: promises to «guarantee a lottery win» or «speed up the line for a fee», charging for what is free on government sites, collecting money «for DV results», and any look-alike sites not on a .gov domain. Government fees and procedures do not depend on intermediaries, and a place in the Visa Bulletin line cannot be moved with money.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Visa Bulletin
What does «U» mean? «Unavailable» — no visas are available in that category and country because the annual or per-country limit is exhausted. You can neither file (on that chart) nor have a case approved until the category reopens, usually with the new fiscal year in October.
Final Action Dates vs. Dates for Filing? Final Action Dates: when a green card can actually be approved and issued. Dates for Filing: when you can submit paperwork earlier. USCIS decides monthly which to use for filings inside the U.S.; in July 2026, family categories use Dates for Filing and employment categories use Final Action Dates.
How do I find my priority date? Usually the date USCIS received your underlying petition; it is on your approval notice. For employment cases with labor certification, it is the date the Department of Labor accepted it.
Why are India’s and China’s lines longer? Because of the «no more than 7% of visas per country» rule against very high demand. With an equal annual limit, the large numbers of applicants from these countries wait longer.
How long is DV-2026 eligibility valid? It expires September 30, 2026. After that, DV-2026 visas are not issued, and numbers may run out sooner.
Do the 2026 visa restrictions affect post-Soviet applicants? The main post-Soviet countries are not on the full lists of Proclamations 10949 and 10998. The exception is Turkmenistan, whose immigrant-visa issuance is suspended. That said, the systemic pressure of retrogressing dates indirectly affects everyone.
Official Sources
Resource | What it is for |
|---|---|
Official bulletin and monthly priority dates | |
Which chart to use for adjustment of status this month | |
Entrant Status Check — DV status and results by confirmation number | |
Current visa processing at embassies and consulates |
This article is for information only and is not legal advice. Figures come from the official July 2026 Visa Bulletin and are current as of July 2026. Priority dates and rules change monthly — verify against the official U.S. Department of State and USCIS sources before acting.