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Visa bulletin Every line

EB-2, China

Where this line's cutoff stands, how it has moved a fiscal year at a time, and what USCIS counts behind it. From the State Department's bulletins, October 2014 to September 2026.

This month

Final action, September 2026
Sep 1, 2021
Dates for filing, September 2026
Jan 1, 2022
Across the archive
It moved 142 months of priority dates across 143 months of bulletins. It went backwards or shut 4 times, most recently in October 2019.

Final action decides when a green card can be approved; dates for filing, when USCIS allows it, decides when an I-485 can be filed. How the visa bulletin works.

Check your priority date

Is my priority date current?

And which way the cutoff has been moving. Cutoffs go backwards as well as forwards.

When a green card can actually be approved.

Reading the September 2026 visa bulletin.

These figures come from that bulletin and the ones before it. Cutoffs change every month, in both directions.

Open the current visa bulletin at travel.state.gov

How the cutoff has moved

Bulletin month along the bottom, the cutoff it published up the side. The shaded part of each column is the range of priority dates that qualified that month, so a taller column is a month more people were current in.

October 2014: cutoff November 15, 2009November 2014: cutoff December 8, 2009December 2014: cutoff January 1, 2010January 2015: cutoff February 1, 2010February 2015: cutoff March 15, 2010March 2015: cutoff September 1, 2010April 2015: cutoff April 1, 2011May 2015: cutoff June 1, 2012June 2015: cutoff June 1, 2013July 2015: cutoff October 1, 2013August 2015: cutoff December 15, 2013September 2015: cutoff January 1, 2006October 2015: cutoff January 1, 2012November 2015: cutoff February 1, 2012December 2015: cutoff February 1, 2012January 2016: cutoff February 1, 2012February 2016: cutoff March 1, 2012March 2016: cutoff August 1, 2012April 2016: cutoff September 1, 2012May 2016: cutoff September 1, 2012June 2016: cutoff January 1, 2010July 2016: cutoff January 1, 2010August 2016: cutoff January 1, 2010September 2016: cutoff January 1, 2010October 2016: cutoff February 15, 2012November 2016: cutoff July 15, 2012December 2016: cutoff September 22, 2012January 2017: cutoff October 15, 2012February 2017: cutoff November 15, 2012March 2017: cutoff December 15, 2012April 2017: cutoff January 15, 2013May 2017: cutoff February 8, 2013June 2017: cutoff March 1, 2013July 2017: cutoff March 22, 2013August 2017: cutoff April 22, 2013September 2017: cutoff May 15, 2013October 2017: cutoff May 22, 2013November 2017: cutoff June 15, 2013December 2017: cutoff July 1, 2013January 2018: cutoff August 8, 2013February 2018: cutoff October 1, 2013March 2018: cutoff December 8, 2013April 2018: cutoff August 1, 2014May 2018: cutoff September 1, 2014June 2018: cutoff September 1, 2014July 2018: cutoff January 1, 2015August 2018: cutoff March 1, 2015September 2018: cutoff January 1, 2013October 2018: cutoff April 1, 2015November 2018: cutoff May 15, 2015December 2018: cutoff July 1, 2015January 2019: cutoff August 1, 2015February 2019: cutoff October 1, 2015March 2019: cutoff January 1, 2016April 2019: cutoff April 1, 2016May 2019: cutoff May 15, 2016June 2019: cutoff August 1, 2016July 2019: cutoff November 1, 2016August 2019: cutoff January 1, 2017September 2019: cutoff January 1, 2017October 2019: cutoff January 1, 2015November 2019: cutoff March 15, 2015December 2019: cutoff June 22, 2015January 2020: cutoff July 1, 2015February 2020: cutoff July 15, 2015March 2020: cutoff August 15, 2015April 2020: cutoff September 1, 2015May 2020: cutoff October 1, 2015June 2020: cutoff November 1, 2015July 2020: cutoff November 8, 2015August 2020: cutoff January 15, 2016September 2020: cutoff January 15, 2016October 2020: cutoff March 1, 2016November 2020: cutoff April 22, 2016December 2020: cutoff May 1, 2016January 2021: cutoff June 1, 2016February 2021: cutoff June 15, 2016March 2021: cutoff July 15, 2016April 2021: cutoff September 1, 2016May 2021: cutoff December 1, 2016June 2021: cutoff May 1, 2017July 2021: cutoff December 1, 2017August 2021: cutoff April 1, 2018September 2021: cutoff July 1, 2018October 2021: cutoff July 1, 2018November 2021: cutoff November 15, 2018December 2021: cutoff January 1, 2019January 2022: cutoff January 22, 2019February 2022: cutoff March 1, 2019March 2022: cutoff March 1, 2019April 2022: cutoff March 1, 2019May 2022: cutoff March 1, 2019June 2022: cutoff March 1, 2019July 2022: cutoff April 1, 2019August 2022: cutoff April 1, 2019September 2022: cutoff April 1, 2019October 2022: cutoff June 8, 2019November 2022: cutoff June 8, 2019December 2022: cutoff June 8, 2019January 2023: cutoff June 8, 2019February 2023: cutoff June 8, 2019March 2023: cutoff June 8, 2019April 2023: cutoff June 8, 2019May 2023: cutoff June 8, 2019June 2023: cutoff June 8, 2019July 2023: cutoff June 8, 2019August 2023: cutoff July 8, 2019September 2023: cutoff July 8, 2019October 2023: cutoff October 1, 2019November 2023: cutoff October 1, 2019December 2023: cutoff October 22, 2019January 2024: cutoff January 1, 2020February 2024: cutoff January 1, 2020March 2024: cutoff January 1, 2020April 2024: cutoff February 1, 2020May 2024: cutoff February 1, 2020June 2024: cutoff February 1, 2020July 2024: cutoff March 1, 2020August 2024: cutoff March 1, 2020September 2024: cutoff March 1, 2020October 2024: cutoff March 22, 2020November 2024: cutoff March 22, 2020December 2024: cutoff March 22, 2020January 2025: cutoff April 22, 2020February 2025: cutoff April 22, 2020March 2025: cutoff May 8, 2020April 2025: cutoff October 1, 2020May 2025: cutoff October 1, 2020June 2025: cutoff December 1, 2020July 2025: cutoff December 15, 2020August 2025: cutoff December 15, 2020September 2025: cutoff December 15, 2020October 2025: cutoff April 1, 2021November 2025: cutoff April 1, 2021December 2025: cutoff June 1, 2021January 2026: cutoff September 1, 2021February 2026: cutoff September 1, 2021March 2026: cutoff September 1, 2021April 2026: cutoff September 1, 2021May 2026: cutoff September 1, 2021June 2026: cutoff September 1, 2021July 2026: cutoff September 1, 2021August 2026: cutoff September 1, 2021September 2026: cutoff September 1, 2021Cutoff date Jan 2005 Nov 2013 Aug 2022 Oct 2014 Oct 2018 Oct 2020 Sep 2022 Sep 2026Bulletin month
  • The cutoff that month
  • Dates that qualified

From the 144 visa bulletins published between October 2014 and September 2026.

What this can’t tell you

  • Enter a priority date to see where it sits against the cutoff.
  • It can’t tell you this month's cutoff. It holds archived bulletins only, and the archive itself stops at September 2026. Check the current bulletin before acting on any of it.

A fiscal year at a time

The final action cutoff in each year's first bulletin (October) against its last (September), the year the State Department plans visa numbers for. Newest first.

Fiscal year First bulletin Last bulletin Moved Steps back
FY2026 Apr 1, 2021 Sep 1, 2021 +153 days 0
FY2025 Mar 22, 2020 Dec 15, 2020 +268 days 0
FY2024 Oct 1, 2019 Mar 1, 2020 +152 days 0
FY2023 Jun 8, 2019 Jul 8, 2019 +30 days 0
FY2022 Jul 1, 2018 Apr 1, 2019 +274 days 0
FY2021 Mar 1, 2016 Jul 1, 2018 +852 days 0
FY2020 Jan 1, 2015 Jan 15, 2016 +379 days 0
FY2019 Apr 1, 2015 Jan 1, 2017 +641 days 0
FY2018 May 22, 2013 Jan 1, 2013 -141 days 1
FY2017 Feb 15, 2012 May 15, 2013 +455 days 0
FY2016 Jan 1, 2012 Jan 1, 2010 -730 days 1
FY2015 Nov 15, 2009 Jan 1, 2006 -1,414 days 1

What USCIS counts in this line

Approved petitions waiting for a visa number
34,936
as of June 2026, primary applicants
I-485s pending, visa number available
2,441 to 2,702
inventory of 2026-08-05
I-485s pending, waiting for a visa number
1,829
inventory of 2026-08-05

The approved count is USCIS's quarterly file and counts petitions, not people: no family members, and one person can hold more than one. The I-485 counts are USCIS's monthly inventory, where cells of 1 to 10 are withheld, so they're ranges. People getting their visa abroad aren't in the I-485 counts at all.

Count everyone ahead of your date in this line

Alert

Email me when my cutoff moves

Pick your category and country. When a new bulletin changes that final-action cutoff, we email the change, before and after. Nothing on the months it doesn't move.

Double opt-in: you confirm by email first, so an address can't be signed up by someone who doesn't control it, and one click opts out. We send one confirmation every 10 minutes per address - if nothing lands, wait that long before trying again.

Visa bulletin: adoption.state.gov (the State Department's own page, served to scripts; travel.state.gov refuses them) · data through Sep 2026 · monthly Cutoff dates as the State Department published them each month. Nothing here is forecast.

Petitions awaiting a visa: USCIS approved employment-based petitions awaiting a visa (uscis.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly Approved I-140, I-360 and I-526 petitions whose beneficiary is still waiting for a visa number, by preference and country of birth, as of the month USCIS states. Primary beneficiaries only, dependents excluded.

I-485 pending inventory has not refreshed in 54 days. It should update monthly, so the figures below are the last ones that arrived rather than the current ones. Source: USCIS employment-based I-485 inventory (uscis.gov) · data through Aug 5, 2026.

The rules behind these numbers

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