September 2026 Visa Bulletin: Employment Categories Hold Steady as the Fiscal Year Closes

The Department of State's September 2026 Visa Bulletin brings no movement across the employment-based categories, with every cutoff date holding exactly where it stood in August. That stability comes with a significant caveat. However, the State Department is warning that several categories including EB-2, EB-1 India, and EB-5 unreserved may become unavailable before the fiscal year ends on September 30, as demand pushes against the annual limits in the final weeks. USCIS has confirmed it will accept employment-based adjustment of status applications using the Final Action Dates chart (Chart A) for September.

For the EB-5 reserved categories, the picture remains unchanged and favorable: Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure are current for every country, as they have been throughout the fiscal year.

Final Action Dates: September 2026

Source: U.S. Department of State, September 2026 Bulletin

Unreserved EB-5:

• All other countries: Current

• China: December 1, 2016 (no change from August)

• India: Unavailable through September 30, 2026

Reserved Categories (Rural, High Unemployment, Infrastructure)

• All Current for every country

Updated Final Action Dates for Pending EB-2 and EB-3 (India):

EB-1 Final Action Date Movement:

• Month/Month: No changes (October 2022)

• Trailing 12 Months: Advanced 8 months (February 2022 to October 2022)

EB-2 Final Action Date Movement:

• Now Unavailable, no filings or approvals until FY2027

EB-3 Final Action Date Movement:

• Month/Month: No changes (January 2014)

• Trailing 12 Months: Advanced 8 Months (May 2013 to January 2014)

A Month Defined by What Might Come Next

September's stability is best understood as a pause rather than a resolution. Because the fiscal year ends on September 30, the categories under the most pressure are the ones nearest their annual or per-country limits, and the State Department has flagged three specifically: EB-2, EB-1 India, and EB-5 unreserved. Each carries the same caution, that sustained demand and increased visa number use may force retrogression, or an outright unavailable designation, before the month is out.

For India, the position has been held since August. EB-2 India remains unavailable, its annual allocation exhausted, and EB-5 unreserved for India remains unavailable as well. EB-1 India, which carried an unavailability warning last month, has again been singled out as at risk in the coming weeks. Should that occur, India would enter the fiscal year's final stretch with its three principal employment-based avenues, EB-1, EB-2, and EB-5 unreserved, all closed or on the brink of closing.

The Difference Between “Unavailable” and “Retrogression”

It is worth being clear about what "Unavailable" means in this context, since the distinction matters for anyone tracking a priority date. Retrogression moves a cutoff date backward. Unavailability is more absolute: the annual allocation for that country and category has been fully used, and no cases can be approved until the numbers reset when the new fiscal year begins on October 1. For the categories the State Department has flagged, October 1 is therefore the point at which availability would resume, though the cutoff dates that follow will depend on demand in the new year.

The Contrast for EB-5 Investors

Against that backdrop, the EB-5 reserved categories once again stand apart. Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure remain current for every country, including India and China, exactly as they have all fiscal year, without any warning from the government. For an investor already in the US in lawful nonimmigrant status, that continued availability preserves the ability to file an adjustment of status application concurrently, obtain employment authorization and advance parole, and avoid the waiting lines and end-of-year uncertainty affecting nearly every other category.

The distinction between reserved and unreserved EB-5 is especially visible this month. The unreserved category is among those the State Department has warned could become unavailable before September 30; the reserved set-asides carry no such caution. That difference is not incidental. It reflects the structural separation Congress built into the Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, under which the reserved allocations sit outside the per-country dynamics that have progressively closed the unreserved and professional categories, particularly for Indian nationals.

Why the End of the Fiscal Year Matters This Time

Two separate deadlines converge as September closes, and it is important not to conflate them. The first is the fiscal-year reset on September 30, a routine event: annual visa numbers are exhausted, categories may briefly go unavailable, and fresh allocations restore availability on October 1. The second is specific to EB-5 and the Reform and Integrity Act's grandfathering deadline, which extends its protections only to investors who file Form I-526E on or before September 30, 2026.

For prospective EB-5 investors, the second date is the consequential one. Filing before September 30 preserves eligibility under the current framework regardless of subsequent legislative action, and it locks in today's investment thresholds ahead of the first inflation-based adjustment scheduled for January 2027. The reserved categories remain current, concurrent filing remains available for those eligible, and the window to act under current rules is now measured in weeks rather than months.

Conclusion

The September 2026 Visa Bulletin holds every employment-based cutoff date in place, but the stability is provisional, with EB-2, EB-1 India, and EB-5 unreserved all flagged as candidates for retrogression or unavailability before the fiscal year ends. Availability in the affected categories should resume when the new fiscal year begins on October 1, though future cutoff dates will turn on demand. For EB-5 investors, the reserved categories remain the most open and predictable path, and with the September 30 grandfathering deadline now imminent, that stability is worth acting on rather than assuming will persist.

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