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By Sam Stevenson

Associate News Editor

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The U.S. Department of State has released its January 2026 Visa Bulletin, detailing new cut-off dates for family- and employment-based green card applicants.

While many categories remain largely unchanged, some employment-based preferences accelerate, offering progress for applicants in high-demand groups.

Why It Matters

This update is crucial for U.S. immigrant families and workers planning their next steps toward permanent residency. The monthly visa bulletin dictates when green card applicants can submit forms or expect final approval.

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Any movement in these dates directly impacts how long families are separated or when skilled workers can join the U.S. workforce. Ongoing backlogs and country quotas mean millions are closely tracking these updates to plan legal, professional, and personal milestones.

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Biggest Winners From January Update

The biggest winner in the family-based category update is Mexico, which saw the most significant forward movement across multiple preferences.

For Final Action Dates, Mexico’s F1 and F2B categories each advanced by six months, while other countries saw only minor changes. For Dates for Filing, Mexico again led with six-month jumps in both F1 and F2B, compared to modest gains elsewhere. This makes Mexican applicants in these categories the clear beneficiaries of the latest update.

The biggest winner in the employment-based update is India’s EB‑5 Unreserved category, which saw a dramatic leap forward from April 1, 2022 to May 1, 2024—a gain of more than two years.

This advancement significantly shortens the wait time for Indian investors seeking green cards through the EB‑5 program, positioning them far closer to final action eligibility than before. It’s the most substantial movement across all employment-based categories, signaling a major opportunity for applicants in this preference group.

What To Know

The Visa Bulletin breaks down two essential timelines: "Final Action Dates" (the earliest date a case can be approved for a green card) and "Dates for Filing" (the earliest you can submit your application).

For January 2026, the key changes and current standings are:

Family-Sponsored Green Card Applicants

• For Final Action Dates, most family-sponsored categories, F1 (unmarried adult children of U.S. citizens), F2A (spouses and children of lawful permanent residents), F2B (unmarried adult children of permanent residents), F3 (married children of U.S. citizens), and F4 (siblings of adult U.S. citizens)—remained unchanged for India and China. For example, India F1 stays at November 8, 2016; F2A, February 1, 2024. And for China, F2B remains at December 1, 2026; F4, January 8, 2008.
• For Mexico, the F1 category for Final Action Dates progressed + six months from March 1, 2006, to September 1, 2006, and the F2B category progressed + six months from May 15, 2008, to November 15, 2008.
• The Philippines also saw some small forward movement for Final Action Dates in the categories of F1 (+ five and a half weeks from January 22, 2013 to March 1, 2013), F2B (+ two and a half months from October 8, 2012 to December 22, 2012), F3 (+ four months from November 1, 2004 to March 1, 2005) and F4 (+ seven days from July 15, 2006 to July 22, 2006).
• For Dates for Filing, all nationalities saw a + one-month advance in the F2A category (from November 22, 2025, to December 22, 2025).
• For Mexico, the F1 category moved forward six months from March 1, 2007, to September 1, 2007. F2B also moved forward six months from May 15, 2006, to November 15, 2009.
• For the Philippines, F3 moved three months from November 1, 2005, to February 1, 2006. And F4 moved + two weeks from January 1, 2008, to January 15, 2008.
• The F2B category also moved forward seven days from March 8, 2017, to March 15, 2017, for China, India, and all chargeability areas except those listed.

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Employment-Based Green Card Applicants

All Final Action Dates for the "set aside" categories under EB-5 (Rural, High Unemployment, Infrastructure) remain current for all nationalities. But there were some notable advances for certain nations in other categories.

Every nationality saw Final Action Dates progress forward four months in the "Certain Religious Workers" and "Fourth (Special Immigrants)" categories, which are now January 1, 2021, previously September 1, 2020, for all of them.

• Indians saw further progress in Final Action Dates for several preferences:

  • First (EB-1): now February 1, 2023 (previously March 15, 2022), at roughly ten and a half months progression, this is one of the biggest jumps of the month
  • Second (EB-2): now July 15, 2013 (previously May 15, 2013)
  • Third (EB-3): now November 15, 2013 (previously September 22, 2013)
  • Other Workers: now November 15, 2013 (previously September 22, 2013)
  • Fifth (Unreserved investor): May 1, 2022 (previously July 1, 2021)

• For the Philippines and Mexico, the second and third categories moved + two months from February 1, 2024, to April 1, 2024, and + eight days from April 15, 2023, to April 22, 2023, respectively. Both countries saw further forward movement in "other workers", which moved forward one month from August 1, 2021, to September 1, 2021.

• For China, every category moved forward (most notably EB‑2, EB‑4, and Other Workers), while all EB‑5 set‑aside categories remained current. Key updates were:

  • EB1 advanced 11 days from 22 Jan 2023 to 1 Feb 2023
  • EB‑2 advanced 3 months from 1 Jun 2021 to 1 Sep 2021
  • EB‑3 advanced 1 month from 1 Apr 2021 to 1 May 2021
  • Other Workers advanced one year from 8 Dec 2017 to 8 Dec 2018, making it one of the biggest jumps of the January update
  • EB‑5 Unreserved advanced 1 month from 15 Jul 2016 to 15 Aug 2016

In terms of Dates for Filing, January shows forward movement in most categories, especially EB‑1 and EB‑2 for China and India, and a significant leap for India under EB‑5 Unreserved. EB‑3 stayed the same.

Every nationality saw Dates for Filing progress forward four months in the "Certain Religious Workers" and "Fourth (Special Immigrants)" categories, which are now February 15, 2021, previously March 15, 2021, for all of them.

• Dates for Filing advanced for the following Indian EB categories:

  • EB-1: now August 15, 2023 (previously April 15, 2023)
  • EB-5 Unreserved: May 1, 2024 (previously April 1, 2022). This is the biggest forward jump of the January update

• Dates for Filing advanced for Mexico and the Philippines in the EB-2 category, which moved forward three months from July 15, 202,4, to October 15, 2024

• For China, the EB1 category moved forward three months from May 15, 2023, to August 15, 2023, the EB-2 category moved forward one month from December 2021 to January 2022, and "Other Workers" saw a significant jump forward of a year from October 1, 2018, to October 1, 2019.

What People Are Saying

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) states on its website: "In general, family-sponsored preference visas are limited to 226,000 visas per year, and employment-based preference visas are limited to 140,000 visas per year. (By statute, these annual visa limits may be exceeded when certain immigrant visas from the previous fiscal year’s allocation were not fully used.)

"Both categories are divided into several sub-categories, each of which receives a certain percentage of the overall visa numbers as prescribed by law. In addition, there are limits to the percentage of visas that can be allotted based on an immigrant’s country of chargeability (usually the country of birth)."

What Happens Next

The State Department will release the next Visa Bulletin for February 2026, signaling whether these trends will continue.

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