If you've filed an employment-based I-485, or you're about to, USCIS publishes the nearest thing to a count of the line you're standing in. Each month it releases a spreadsheet of every pending employment-based adjustment application, by country, category and priority date. This guide explains what it counts and how to read your own place in it.
In USCIS's own words
USCIS says the report gives "our estimate of how many Forms I-485 we have in our inventory" for each category, country and priority date, and it adds that the report holds nothing from the State Department's own inventory, meaning people getting their visas at a consulate abroad. Read on USCIS's immigration and citizenship data page, October 16, 2026.
The whole inventory, release by release
| USCIS release, as of | Pending employment-based I-485s |
|---|---|
| August 5, 2026 | 263,975 |
| July 6, 2026 | 264,158 |
| June 6, 2026 | 283,367 |
| May 6, 2026 | 244,422 |
| April 3, 2026 | 211,719 |
| March 3, 2026 | 210,835 |
| February 3, 2026 | 209,146 |
| January 2, 2026 | 205,828 |
| December 3, 2025 | 199,984 |
Each figure counts the cells USCIS published, across every country and category, so each is a floor. USCIS keeps no archive of earlier releases, and the August 2026 file was the newest on its data page on October 16, 2026. The I-485 queue position tool holds every release captured since December 2025.
What it counts
- Every pending employment-based I-485 USCIS holds, by country of chargeability, preference category and the month and year of the priority date.
- Two pending states. "Available" means a visa number is available and USCIS hasn't decided the application yet. "Awaiting availability" means the bulletin hasn't reached the priority date.
- Applications, not households. A spouse and each child file their own I-485, so a family is counted more than once.
What it leaves out
- Anyone who hasn't filed an I-485. Approved I-140s waiting for a visa number aren't in it. For EB-2 India that group is far larger: 356,360 approved petitions waiting as of June 2026, against about 28,000 pending I-485s. I-140s awaiting a visa shows USCIS's separate count.
- People getting their visa abroad. Consular cases belong to the State Department.
- Exact small counts. USCIS prints the letter D in place of any cell holding 1 to 10 applications, so totals come as a range: every D counted as 1 at the low end and as 10 at the high end.
Read your own place
Open the queue position tool
Choose your country of chargeability, category, and priority date year and month in the I-485 queue position tool.
Read the range ahead of you
It counts the pending applications with an earlier priority date in your category and country. For India, EB-2, January 2013, the August 5, 2026 release put 441 to 882 ahead and 27,344 behind.
Check whether your date is current
The count says how many are ahead. The visa bulletin decides when the line moves, and the tool says whether this month's final action date has already passed your date.
Add the people who can't file yet
For the whole line, including approved petitions that can't file and family members, use the green card line.
Who's already current and still waiting
Some applicants have priority dates earlier than this month's final action date and are only waiting for USCIS to decide. Set against the October 2026 final action dates, the August 5, 2026 inventory held:
| Line | Final action date, October 2026 | Pending I-485s with an earlier priority date |
|---|---|---|
| EB-2 India | Nov 1, 2013 | 3,519 to 3,960 |
| EB-3 India | Jan 1, 2014 | 2,506 to 3,028 |
| EB-2 China | Oct 1, 2021 | 2,998 to 3,259 |
| EB-3 China | Jan 8, 2022 | 3,694 to 4,054 |
| EB-2 rest of world | Jan 1, 2025 | 27,704 to 27,920 |
| EB-3 rest of world | May 15, 2024 | 19,614 to 19,866 |
Those applications are ahead of anyone with a later date in the same line, whatever the next bulletin does.
How fast USCIS is deciding them
The inventory is a monthly snapshot. USCIS's quarterly performance data shows the flow. In the quarter to June 30, 2026, its offices approved 42,076 employment-based I-485s and denied 3,160, and 268,408 were pending at the end of it: about 5.9 quarters of work at that quarter's pace. The I-485 by field office page breaks that down by office, and the two reports count on different dates, which is why their totals differ.
What this can't tell you
- When your green card will be approved. That depends on visa numbers, which the bulletin rations, and on your office's pace.
- How many people with earlier dates could file and haven't. USCIS publishes nothing that sizes that group.
- Anything about your file. Your attorney has it, and nothing here is legal advice.
