At the end of August 2026, the United States Department of State Consular Affairs released the last issue of the September 2026 fiscal year visa announcement (Visa Bulletin). This bulletin covers the availability of immigration visas in September, after which USCIS confirmed that in September it would follow the established form rules for processing applications for adjustment of status. The announcement was made at the end of the 2026 fiscal year, on 30 September marking the end of that fiscal year, and the visa quota was in its final stages. Between 30 August and 2 September, several media and immigration legal services updated the bulletin, noting that there had been a significant advance in the family priority category, while the final action date for the employment category (Final Action Dates) remained unchanged as a whole, while some employment categories faced warnings that might be tightened before the end of the year.
In the bulletin, the USCIS rules for the use of forms for applications for the adjustment of identity (Adjustment of Status) continue the previous arrangement. During the month of September, the USCIS will continue to use the “Dates for Filing Chart” only in the family sponsorship category, while the “Final Action Dates” in employment category applications will continue to be used. This arrangement means that applicants for employment-type adjustment of their status cannot submit their application on the filing date in September and must be judged against the final date of action. At the same time, the State Department has published reference data on the dates of filing for the employment category, which provide applicants with information on the scheduling of the different categories in different countries/regions, but these dates do not change the actual admissibility rules of the same month. With regard to the final action dates for the employment category, with the exception of EB-4 (including specific religious workers), the final action dates for the non-allocated quota categories of EB-1, EB-2, EB-3 and EB-5 are in line with August, without progress or regression.
In September, there was a significant forward movement in the family support category. For F-1 (unmarried children of United States citizens), Mexico is a month ahead of 1 January 2008; for the rest of the world, China and India, it is 13 months ahead of 22 January 2020. With regard to F-2A (spouses and children of permanent residents), Mexico is one month ahead of 22 August 2025 and one month ahead of 22 August 2026. F-2B (unmarried children of permanent residents) was moved from 1 January 2018 to 22 August 2019. The F-3 (married children of American citizens) moved from 15 May 2012 to 22 October 2014 for approximately 29 months. The F-4 (brothers and sisters of American citizens) moved from 1 September 2009 to 22 October 2011 for approximately 26 months. According to several reports, this was the most significant advance in the priority category of households for the fiscal year 2026, with significant forward movement in F3, F4, F2B and F1, while no family or employment priority category experienced regression this month.
With regard to the employment category, EB-4 (including specific religious workers) is the only final action date for the employment category where advancement occurs, two months ahead of 15 December 2022. EB-2 India and EB-5 India remain unusable. At the same time, the Department of State, in its bulletin, warned that the non-allocated quota categories of India, EB-2 (all countries) and EB-5 could be reversed or rendered unusable by the end of September, and could not be restored until the beginning of the new fiscal year in October. On 30 September, the last day of the 2026 fiscal year, the State Council noted that the availability of visa numbers could become particularly volatile at the end of the fiscal year, as the State Council needed to complete its distribution within annual and national quota limits. Media statistics show that this warning has left applicants for green cards in the employment category in a state of sight for weeks before the closure of the fiscal year, and that the final date of action for some categories, while temporarily unchanged, may change their physical availability in September.
The September visa announcement also contains final territorial distribution information for the 2026 Multiple Visa (DV-2026). Of the 101,250 places allocated to Africa, Algeria 85,000, Egypt 50,000, Asia 40,000, Nepal 13,500, Europe 47,500, North America (Bahamas) currently available, Oceania 3,000 and South America and the Caribbean 4,750. The State Council stressed that the eligibility of the DV-2026 expired on 30 September 2026, that the visa would cease to be issued after that date and that the visa number could be exhausted by September. This arrangement is consistent with the overall tempo of September as the last month of the 2026 fiscal year, and also means that a diversity visa applicant will have to complete the process by 30 September or will be disqualified from the current season.
This bulletin raises concerns both because it is the end of the 2026 fiscal year and because employment and family groups show very different trends. The concentration of priority family categories in the last month of the fiscal year has been significantly advanced, while the final action date for the employment category has been largely frozen, with the exception of EB-4, and some of the categories are at risk of tightening before the end of the year. For applicants in queues, family category applicants can see clear forward movement, in particular long waiting categories such as F-3, F-4 and F-2B; employment category applicants need to distinguish between the end-action date and the date of declaration, noting the risk of non-availability or retrogression that all India, EB-2 and the non-distribution quota category of EB-5 may face before 30 September. In September, the arrangements for processing applications for adjustment of status continued to be followed in the form of the final action date for the employment category, so that applicants for the employment category should submit their submission on the basis of the final action date rather than the reference data on the declaration date form.
Next, the focus will be on the actual visa number consumption before the fiscal year of September 30, and whether the non-allocated quota categories of EB-1, EB-2, and EB-5 will not be available or backtracked within September, as the State Department has warned. The new fiscal year starts on 1 October, when the availability of visa numbers may be restored, and the post-October visa announcement will also indicate whether these categories are re-available. For family category applicants, advancement in September means that some of the applicants with earlier schedules may enter the follow-up process within September, but the specific ability to complete a visa application is combined with their respective ranking, scheduling and actual allocation of visa numbers. For the DV-2026 applicants, September 30 is a hard cut-off date and visa numbers may run out before that date, requiring attention to the actual issuance of the month. On the whole, this September visa announcement is both the sound of the 2026 fiscal year, and leaves room for observation of the schedule for the October New Year.