Updated
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, June 2005 to November 2026.
This month
- Final action, November 2026
- Oct 1, 2021
- Dates for filing, November 2026
- Jan 1, 2023
- Behind the bulletin
- 5 years, 1 month The November 2026 bulletin approves priority dates from before Oct 1, 2021.
- Since October 2014
- It moved 143 months of priority dates across 145 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.
Filing an I-485 in November 2026
- Work-based categories: USCIS accepts
- Dates for Filing chart
- A priority date before this chart's cutoff can file now, but approval still waits for the Final Action date.
Applying through a consulate abroad? The visa is issued only once the priority date is before the Final Action date.
Check your priority date
Is my priority date current?
Checked against the newest bulletin, with which way the cutoff has been moving: cutoffs go backwards as well as forwards.
When a green card can actually be approved.
Reading the November 2026 visa bulletin.
These figures come from that bulletin and the ones before it. Cutoffs change every month, in both directions.
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.
- The cutoff that month
- Dates that qualified
- Current, open to every date
- Closed, no visa numbers
From the 238 visa bulletins published between June 2005 and November 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 November 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2027 (part) | Oct 1, 2021 | Oct 1, 2021 | no change | 0 |
| 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 |
| FY2014 | Sep 15, 2008 | Oct 8, 2009 | +388 days | 0 |
| FY2013 (part) | Sep 1, 2007 | Aug 8, 2008 | +342 days | 0 |
| FY2012 | Jul 15, 2007 | Unavailable | not dated | 2 |
| FY2011 | May 22, 2006 | Apr 15, 2007 | +328 days | 0 |
| FY2010 (part) | Apr 1, 2005 | May 8, 2006 | +402 days | 0 |
| FY2009 (part) | Apr 1, 2004 | Oct 1, 2003 | -183 days | 1 |
| FY2008 | Jan 1, 2006 | Aug 1, 2006 | +212 days | 1 |
| FY2007 (part) | Apr 22, 2005 | Jan 1, 2006 | +254 days | 1 |
| FY2006 (part) | Jul 1, 2004 | Mar 1, 2005 | +243 days | 0 |
| FY2005 (part) | Current | Current | not dated | 0 |
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
- 2,975 to 3,200
- inventory of 2026-10-05
- I-485s pending, waiting for a visa number
- 1,245 to 1,344
- inventory of 2026-10-05
Approved counts count petitions. They don't count people. I-485 counts are ranges (USCIS withholds cells of 1 to 10) and leave out people getting their visa abroad.
Count everyone ahead of your date in this lineWhat State issued abroad in this line
463 EB-2 visas to people chargeable China from March 2025 to February 2026, 25 of them in February 2026. Consulates only: a green card granted inside the US isn't in this count. Every month and category.
Or a browser notification each new bulletin
No email and no account. When the next visa bulletin is out, this browser gets one notification saying where this line's cutoff moved, or that it held. Turn it off here or in the browser's settings.
Visa bulletin through Nov 2026 · Petitions awaiting a visa through Jun 30, 2026 · I-485 pending inventory through Oct 5, 2026 · State visa issuances through Feb 28, 2026. How these figures are counted. Spotted an error? Tell us; every fix is dated in the corrections log.
The sources in full
Visa bulletin: travel.state.gov (the bulletin's tables, read in a browser; the site refuses automated clients) · data through Nov 2026 · monthly
Petitions awaiting a visa: USCIS approved employment-based petitions awaiting a visa (uscis.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
I-485 pending inventory: USCIS employment-based I-485 inventory (uscis.gov) · data through Oct 5, 2026 · monthly
State visa issuances: State Department monthly immigrant visa issuances (state.gov) · data through Feb 28, 2026 · monthly, posted months late
What each source includes
Visa bulletin: Cutoff dates as the State Department published them each month. Nothing here is forecast.
Petitions awaiting a visa: Approved I-140, I-360 and I-526 petitions whose beneficiary is still waiting for a visa number. They're counted by preference and country of birth, as of the month USCIS states. Primary beneficiaries only, with dependents excluded.
I-485 pending inventory: USCIS's count of pending I-485s by priority date and country. Employment-based only: USCIS doesn't publish a family-based equivalent.
State visa issuances: Immigrant visas State's consulates issued abroad each month, by visa class and by country or consulate. A green card granted inside the United States (adjustment of status at USCIS) isn't in it. For employment categories, that's most of them.
Cite this page
The rules behind these numbers
Waiting on a PERM case?
- When it'll likely be decided
- An email when DOL moves it
Don't have the number?