The U.S. Department of State has released the August 2026 Visa Bulletin, and the story it tells is one of stark contrasts.
The biggest changes are concentrated in the family-sponsored categories
, where several preferences recorded their strongest forward movement in months. Meanwhile,
as fiscal year 2026 enters its final two months, the bulletin reflects limited movement across most employment-based immigrant visa categories, with several categories remaining unchanged or unavailable due to continued demand.
Adding to the month's developments,
on July 17, 2026, USCIS announced that it had received enough petitions to meet the congressionally mandated H-1B visa cap for FY 2027, confirming that both the 65,000 regular H-1B cap allocation and the 20,000 master's cap allocation have been met.
Family-Sponsored Categories: A Banner Month
The August bulletin was unquestionably a win for family-based green card applicants.
Family-based categories moved forward across several preferences, with F1 advancing by 5.5 months for most countries, F2B moving ahead 7 months, F3 advancing 3 months, and F4 progressing 3.5 months for most countries and China.
But the headliner was the F2A category, covering spouses and unmarried children of lawful permanent residents.
The F2A final action date jumped from January 1, 2025, to July 22, 2026, for every country except Mexico, which advanced from January 1, 2024, to July 22, 2025.
That roughly 18-month leap is extraordinary by historical standards.
If you filed an I-130 petition in this category before the middle of July, your priority date is now current — meaning F2A is effectively open to almost everyone waiting in it.
Other preference categories experienced steady gains as well; F1 for unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens advanced to December 2018, while F4 for siblings of U.S. citizens moved to September 2009.
Most categories for Mexico, the Philippines, and India remained unchanged, while F2A stayed current for all countries.
The reason behind these dramatic advances is important context.
Entry restrictions left visa numbers unused, and those numbers expire on September 30. The State Department moved dates forward to spend them and cautioned that dates may move backward later.
Applicants whose priority dates have just become current should act promptly — there is no guarantee these dates will hold into the new fiscal year.
USCIS has confirmed that filings for family-sponsored preference categories must use the Dates for Filing chart (Chart B)
, which is the more generous of the two charts and opens a wider filing window.
Employment-Based Categories: India Under Pressure
On the employment-based side, movement was modest at best — and for Indian nationals, the picture remains bleak.
EB-1 China advanced one month to July 1, 2023, while India remained at October 15, 2022. All other countries continued to be current.
Critically,
the State Department warned that high demand and number use by aliens chargeable to India in the EB-1 category may necessitate making the category unavailable in the coming weeks if India's pro-rated limit is reached
before the end of FY 2026.
EB-2 final action dates for India are unavailable for the fiscal year.
EB-2 China remained at September 1, 2021, India continued to be unavailable, and all other countries stayed current.
For EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers, China advanced by more than one week to January 1, 2022, India remained at January 1, 2014, and all other countries advanced by one month to September 1, 2024.
EB-5 Unreserved India also remains unavailable
, though
for investors in the EB-5 reserved categories, the picture is unchanged and favorable — Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure remain current for every country.
USCIS has confirmed that it will accept employment-based adjustment of status applications under the Final Action Dates chart (Chart A) in August 2026
— the stricter of the two charts, meaning fewer applicants will be able to file.
Looking to October
There is a silver lining for affected applicants.
There is optimism for October 2026, when the new fiscal year begins; historically, this resets the annual visa quota and can lead to fresh advancements in priority dates.
The State Department has indicated that EB-2 India should return to a final action date of July 15, 2014, or earlier once FY 2027 numbers become available on October 1, 2026, and EB-5 India unreserved is likewise expected to return to a dated status.
However,
both are projections rather than commitments, and the bulletin itself cautions that demand in EB-2 more broadly may make it necessary to retrogress the final action date or make the category unavailable again.
FY 2027 H-1B Cap: Door Closed, No Second Lottery
In a parallel development that affects hundreds of thousands of foreign workers and their employers,
USCIS announced that it has received enough cap petitions to fill the 85,000 slots available for H-1B employment for the coming fiscal year, which begins October 1.
The agency will not run a second cap lottery selection for H-1B employment in FY 2027.
Any H-1B registration not selected in the draw conducted in March 2026 will not be eligible to file an H-1B cap petition for FY 2027, and the next opportunity to sponsor an individual under the H-1B cap will be in March 2027 for the FY 2028 cap.
This year's cycle was historic for another reason:
FY 2027 was the first cap year to use a wage-weighted selection instead of a random draw, with the final rule taking effect February 27, 2026.
Under the new system, Level I registrations get one entry, Level II gets two, Level III gets three, and Level IV gets four.
The impact of this shift was significant.
The number of properly submitted registrations decreased by 38.5%, from 343,981 in FY 2026 to 211,600 in FY 2027, and 71.5% of selected foreign nationals hold a U.S. advanced degree, compared to 57% in FY 2026.
In selection data, Level I registrations were selected 24.5% of the time, while Level III registrations were selected 69.2% of the time — with every level beating the odds DHS projected when it published the rule, likely because total registrations fell.
USCIS will continue to accept and process cap-exempt H-1B petitions, including extension, amendment, and change of employer petitions, as well as change of status petitions filed by cap-exempt petitioners.
Those not selected may examine O-1, L-1, or TN visa options depending on their qualifications, as those routes are separate from the annual H-1B allocation.
Practical Takeaways
For family-sponsored applicants: The August bulletin opens a significant window — particularly in F2A, where the final action date has essentially caught up to the present. If your priority date is now current, consult with an immigration attorney immediately about filing your adjustment of status application or pursuing consular processing. These gains may not survive the October fiscal year reset.
For employment-based applicants from India: August is effectively a holding month. The strategic focus should be on preparing cases for the October 1 reset when new FY 2027 visa numbers become available.
For H-1B candidates and employers:
For employers whose candidates were not selected in this year's registration process, the standard cap-subject H-1B route is now closed for FY 2027 unless the individual qualifies for a cap exemption.
Employers should evaluate alternative visa categories and begin planning early for the FY 2028 registration period expected to open in March 2027.
The August 2026 Visa Bulletin reflects the Department of State's continued management of immigrant visa number usage as FY 2026 approaches its conclusion, and visa availability may continue to fluctuate during the remaining months of the fiscal year.
With just weeks left before the September 30 fiscal year deadline, applicants and practitioners alike should remain vigilant for further changes in the September bulletin.