September 2026 Visa Bulletin: USCIS Confirms Final Action Dates Chart With Historic Family Category Jumps

September 2026 Visa Bulletin: USCIS has confirmed which chart green card applicants must use this month, and the September 2026 Visa Bulletin delivers some of the largest single-month movements the family-based immigration system has seen in years. For employment-based adjustment of status filings, USCIS confirmed applicants must use the Final Action Dates chart, the same chart required in August, while family-sponsored applicants must use the more forward-leaning Dates for Filing chart. The real story this month is the family categories, where the State Department pushed cutoff dates forward by more than two years in some cases, a move officials say is meant to use up remaining Fiscal Year 2026 visa numbers before the fiscal year closes on September 30, 2026. We’ll be updating this article monthly as USCIS confirms the applicable chart and the Department of State releases new priority date movement each month.

The scale of the jump is unusual even by Visa Bulletin standards. F3, the category for married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, advanced by roughly 29 months in a single bulletin, while F4, covering siblings of adult U.S. citizens, moved forward by nearly 26 months. F2B, for unmarried adult sons and daughters of green card holders, jumped almost 20 months. The Department of State has been unusually direct about why, stating that immigrant visa issuance for nationals of certain countries has slowed under current administration policies, leaving unused visa numbers that officials are now racing to allocate before they expire at the end of the fiscal year. Employment-based categories, by contrast, barely moved at all, with EB-4 the only category to advance. This article breaks down the full September 2026 Visa Bulletin Final Action Dates chart, what USCIS confirmed, and what applicants should do next.

September 2026 Visa Bulletin Key Highlights

Employment-Based Final Action Dates for September 2026

The employment-based side of the September 2026 Visa Bulletin is largely frozen compared to the dramatic family-based movement. USCIS has confirmed that employment-based adjustment of status applicants must continue using the Final Action Dates chart this month, meaning your priority date must be earlier than the listed cutoff for your category and country to file or have your green card application approved.

EB-1 and EB-2 remain unchanged from August, though the Department of State has separately warned that heavy demand in both categories, especially from India, could push them to become fully unavailable before September 30 if the FY2026 country allocation is exhausted early. EB-2 India is already marked unavailable for Final Action purposes this month, meaning no new numbers are being issued to India-born EB-2 applicants at all in September. EB-4 and Certain Religious Workers is the sole employment-based category that moved, advancing two months to December 15, 2022, across all countries.

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Family-Sponsored Final Action Dates: The Big Story This Month

The family-based side of the bulletin tells a completely different story. Because USCIS has confirmed that family-sponsored applicants should use the Dates for Filing chart in September, the table below reflects those September 2026 Dates for Filing figures alongside the underlying Final Action Dates movement reported by immigration attorneys tracking the bulletin.

For applicants tracking F2A specifically, the category is listed as fully Current on the Dates for Filing chart this month, meaning essentially all spouses and minor children of green card holders can move forward with filing regardless of when their priority date was established, even though the Final Action Date for F2A itself still sits at August 22, 2026 for most countries.

Why the Department of State Moved Family Dates So Dramatically

The Department of State has been unusually candid about the reasoning behind September’s sharp advances. According to the bulletin’s official commentary, immigrant visa issuance rates for nationals of certain countries have decreased due to administration actions affecting visa processing, leaving a gap between the number of visas Congress authorized and the number actually being issued each month. To avoid letting FY2026 numbers go unused when the fiscal year closes on September 30, the Department pushed both the Final Action Dates and, in some categories, the Dates for Filing chart forward aggressively in September, effectively racing to generate enough new eligible applicants to use up the remaining allocation before it expires.

Immigration attorneys following the bulletin have noted a complication with this strategy. Because the September dates moved so late in the fiscal year, consular posts and USCIS field offices may not have enough processing capacity left in the final weeks of September to actually complete interviews and approvals for the surge of newly eligible applicants, meaning FY2026 family-sponsored visa number use could still land tens of thousands under the full 226,000 annual limit despite the dramatic date movement.

Visa Bulletin Timeline: What Happened in FY2026

How to Apply Using the September 2026 Visa Bulletin

1. Identify your correct preference category, either family-sponsored (F1, F2A, F2B, F3, F4) or employment-based (EB-1 through EB-5), along with your country of chargeability.
2. Confirm which chart applies to your category this month using the official USCIS adjustment of status filing chart page, since employment-based filers use Final Action Dates while family-sponsored filers use Dates for Filing in September 2026.
3. Compare your priority date, the date your immigrant petition was originally filed, against the applicable cutoff date for your category and country in the tables above.
4. If your priority date is earlier than the listed cutoff, or your category is marked Current, you may be eligible to file Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, or move forward with consular processing.
5. Gather required supporting documents in advance, including medical examination results, financial support evidence, and any outstanding Requests for Evidence responses, since USCIS and consular posts have limited processing time left before the fiscal year closes.
6. If applying through a U.S. consulate rather than adjustment of status inside the country, respond promptly to any documentary requirements from the National Visa Center to avoid missing the September window.

Processing Time and Payment Schedule for Adjustment of Status

Processing times for Form I-485 vary significantly by USCIS field office and category, but applicants whose priority dates newly became current in September 2026 should expect standard adjustment of status processing timelines once filed, which commonly range from several months to over a year depending on the local office and case complexity. There is no dedicated Visa Bulletin filing fee separate from standard USCIS form fees; applicants pay the regular Form I-485 filing fee, along with biometrics and any applicable immigrant visa fees for consular processing cases. Fee amounts and current schedules should always be confirmed directly through the official USCIS fee page before filing, since USCIS fee schedules have changed multiple times in 2026.

Why Applicants Should Not Assume September’s Dates Will Hold

The Department of State has explicitly warned that the dramatic September advances are not guaranteed to continue and could even reverse. As additional demand surfaces from the surge of newly eligible applicants, or if visa processing policies shift again, categories can retrogress, meaning cutoff dates move backward, or become entirely unavailable if an annual, category, or per-country numerical limit is reached before September 30. Rapid forward movement itself tends to generate a wave of new demand as thousands of previously backlogged applicants suddenly qualify to file, which can quickly absorb the very numbers the Department was trying to preserve. Anyone whose priority date became current this month is strongly advised to act quickly rather than assume the same cutoff dates will still apply in October, the first month of Fiscal Year 2027.

Who Benefits Most From the September 2026 Visa Bulletin

Family-sponsored applicants in the F1, F2B, F3, and F4 categories see the most significant benefit this month, particularly those from China and India, where cutoff dates advanced by well over a year in most categories. Mexico and the Philippines saw smaller, more modest movement across most family categories, reflecting different demand patterns for those countries. On the employment-based side, only applicants in the EB-4 category, which covers special immigrants including certain religious workers, saw any forward movement, while EB-1 and EB-2 applicants, especially those born in India, face continued backlogs and the added risk of categories becoming unavailable before the fiscal year ends.

Official USCIS and State Department Resources

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Conclusion

The September 2026 Visa Bulletin Final Action Dates chart confirms one of the most dramatic single-month shifts in recent memory for family-sponsored green card categories, even as employment-based categories remain almost entirely frozen heading into the final weeks of Fiscal Year 2026. USCIS has confirmed employment-based applicants must continue using the Final Action Dates chart, while family-sponsored applicants should use the more generous Dates for Filing chart this month. With F3 and F4 both advancing by roughly two years and F2B jumping nearly 20 months, thousands of long-waiting applicants may suddenly find themselves eligible to move forward, but the Department of State has cautioned that this progress could reverse quickly once demand catches up with the newly available numbers. Anyone newly eligible under September’s cutoff dates should prepare documentation and file promptly, since October’s Fiscal Year 2027 bulletin could look very different. This article will continue to be updated monthly as USCIS confirms the applicable chart and new Visa Bulletin data is released.

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