November 2026 Visa Bulletin: Selected Employment Categories Make Gains, Family Categories Advance

Comparison with the October 2026 Visa Bulletin

The November 2026 Visa Bulletin show:

• Employment-based gains, including a three-month advance in EB-2 and a five-month advance for certain EB-3 Other Workers. We see modest movement in other categories.
• Substantial advancement in several family-sponsored preference categories and more limited movement in employment-based categories. Several family cutoffs advance by one year.

USCIS is allowing use of Chart B Dates for Filing for adjustment-of-status applications.

The following tables compare the supplied October and November bulletins. “ROW” means all chargeability areas except China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines. “China” means mainland-born China.

Employment-based

Chart A Final Action Dates

All other employment Final Action Date entries remain unchanged:

• EB-1: ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines remain current; India remains at February 1, 2023.
• EB-2: China remains at October 1, 2021; India remains at November 1, 2013.
• EB-3 Skilled Workers and Professionals: The Philippines remains at August 15, 2023.
• EB-3 Other Workers: China remains at October 1, 2019; the Philippines remains at January 1, 2022.
• EB-4 and Certain Religious Workers: All countries remain at December 15, 2022.
• EB-5 Unreserved: China remains at December 1, 2016; India remains at December 1, 2023. ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines remain current.
• EB-5 set-asides: Rural, high-unemployment, and infrastructure categories remain current for all countries.

The EB-2 advance is a meaningful improvement for applicants chargeable to ROW, Mexico, and the Philippines. India’s employment-based movement is confined to EB-3 and Other Workers, with both advancing three weeks. China sees modest gains in EB-1 and EB-3, while EB-2 and EB-5 Unreserved remain unchanged.

The five-month Other Workers advance is the largest employment-based Final Action Date movement this month. It does not represent a five-month reduction in processing time or predict the pace of future advances.

Employment-based

Chart B. Dates for Filing

All other employment-based Dates for Filing remain unchanged, including EB-1, EB-2, EB-3 Skilled Workers and Professionals, EB-4, Certain Religious Workers, and all EB-5 categories.

Accordingly, most employment-based advances this month concern eligibility for final action, rather than expansion of the filing window.

Family-sponsored Final Action Dates: all changes

The largest family gains benefit F1 unmarried adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, F2B unmarried adult sons and daughters of permanent residents, and F3 married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens in ROW, China, and India. F4 siblings of adult U.S. citizens also gain one year in ROW and China.

F2A spouses and children of permanent residents receive a one-month advance across all chargeability areas. Mexico retains a separate, earlier cutoff. Although these advances expand the group potentially eligible for final action, they do not guarantee immediate adjudication or visa issuance.

Family-sponsored Dates for Filing: all changes

All other family filing entries remain unchanged. F2A remains current for all countries on the Dates for Filing chart, while its Final Action Dates remain subject to cutoffs. These filing advances may allow additional applicants to begin National Visa Center document processing after receiving the required instructions.

Additional notes:

An applicant’s priority date must be earlier than the applicable cutoff; a priority date equal to the listed date does not qualify. A “current” designation means there is no priority-date cutoff for that chart, but all other eligibility requirements still apply.

Applicants whose dates become eligible should prepare the necessary documents and review their filing or adjudication posture with counsel.

The supplied November text omits October’s discussion of FY 2027 visa availability and its separate religious-worker extension notice. Those omissions do not, by themselves, establish a change in statutory authorization. The religious-worker chart dates remain unchanged.