Employment-based immigrationNovember 2026 Visa Bulletin: EB-2 Advances, Family Dates Jump — Who Is Newly Current?

November 2026 Visa Bulletin | Fiscal Year 2027 | Updated October 23, 2026

November 2026 Visa Bulletin: What Changed for Green Card Applicants?

The November 2026 Visa Bulletin brings significant forward movement in several employment-based and family-sponsored green card categories. EB-2 advances three months for most countries, EB-3 skilled workers and professionals move forward one month, and EB-3 Other Workers advance five months. Worldwide F1, F2B, F3 and F4 Final Action Dates each advance one year.

The gains are not universal. EB-2 India and China remain unchanged. For November, USCIS has selected Dates for Filing for both employment-based and family-sponsored Form I-485 applications. Filing eligibility and eligibility for final approval remain separate questions.

October vs. November 2026: Which Green Card Dates Advanced?

The November bulletin is the second monthly bulletin of fiscal year 2027. The comparisons below use Final Action Dates for the worldwide column, officially titled "All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed" (ROW).

Dates use the Department of State's DDMMMyy format. For example, 01APR25 means April 1, 2025. "C" means Current.

The different rates of movement matter. An EB-2 applicant chargeable to ROW may see a newly current Final Action Date, while an EB-2 applicant chargeable to India sees no Final Action movement at all. Similarly, the substantial family-sponsored advances shown above do not apply uniformly to Mexico or the Philippines.

A cut-off is a numerical-control point reflecting reported demand and available visas. A one-year advance does not mean every affected immigrant petition has moved through one year of processing in a single month.

When a Final Action Date advances, applicants whose priority dates fall inside the newly covered interval may now satisfy the priority-date requirement for final action. The following ranges are calculated directly from the October and November bulletins for ROW chargeability.

Example: EB-2 Applicant Born in Ukraine

Consider an EB-2 applicant born in Ukraine with a priority date of February 14, 2025. Assuming ordinary ROW chargeability, the date was outside October's Final Action range, which ended at January 1, 2025.

November's EB-2 ROW cut-off is April 1, 2025. February 14 falls before that date, so the priority-date requirement for final action is met in November. Petition validity, admissibility and other requirements still have to be satisfied.

The worldwide column does not apply automatically to every applicant. Several country-specific changes are smaller than the headline advances but may still bring individual cases into the Final Action range.

Visa chargeability generally follows country of birth, rather than current residence or passport nationality. Certain cross-chargeability rules permit exceptions when the applicant meets the applicable conditions.

The following dates apply to the Final Action chart. EB-3 skilled workers and professionals are distinct from EB-3 Other Workers. Dates are grouped by chargeability area to make country-by-country reading easier.

EB-2 and National Interest Waiver

EB-2 National Interest Waiver cases use the same EB-2 preference row as other qualifying EB-2 petitions. NIW can waive the ordinary job-offer and labor-certification requirements when its legal standards are met, but it does not create a separate Visa Bulletin category or eliminate the priority-date requirement.

EB-4 Religious Workers

The October 2026 Visa Bulletin reported that H.R. 6500, signed September 2, 2026, extended the Certain Religious Workers program through December 11, 2026. That statutory authorization date is separate from November's EB-4 Final Action Date of December 15, 2022.

See the October 2026 Department of State notice for the extension.

Family-sponsored preferences have different eligibility rules and annual numerical limits. F1 covers unmarried adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens; F2A covers spouses and qualifying unmarried children under 21 of permanent residents; F2B covers unmarried adult sons and daughters of permanent residents; F3 covers married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens; and F4 covers siblings of U.S. citizens who are at least 21 years old.

F2A: Filing Is Current, Final Action Is Not

The November F2A Dates for Filing chart is Current for every listed country. The Final Action chart is different: October 22, 2026 for most countries and April 22, 2026 for Mexico.

Because USCIS has selected Dates for Filing for family-sponsored adjustment applications in November, an otherwise eligible F2A applicant may satisfy the filing-chart requirement without a numerical priority-date cut-off. That does not eliminate the separate Final Action requirement for approval.

The Department of State also separates F2A numbers exempt from the per-country limit. Exempt numbers are authorized for priority dates earlier than April 22, 2026. Subject-to-limit F2A numbers are available to countries other than Mexico for priority dates beginning April 22, 2026 and earlier than October 22, 2026.

Family applicants should also consider whether marriage, the petitioner's naturalization, or the age of a beneficiary affects classification. The Child Status Protection Act may apply in qualifying cases, but its protection cannot be determined from a cut-off date alone.

Important filing dates: The November 2026 Dates for Filing charts apply to Form I-485 applications properly filed from November 1 through November 30, 2026. Applications filed in October remain subject to the October filing charts.

Final Action Dates control visa-number availability for final decisions. Dates for Filing allow qualifying applicants to reach the document-submission or adjustment-filing stage earlier when the responsible agency authorizes that chart.

USCIS has selected Dates for Filing for both major preference groups for November 2026. Applicants must still meet the legal requirements for adjustment of status. Applicants completing immigrant visa processing abroad generally follow National Visa Center and consular instructions instead of filing Form I-485.

Employment-Based Dates for Filing

The November employment-based Dates for Filing chart is unchanged from October except for EB-3 Other Workers for ROW and Mexico, advancing from June 1 to July 1, 2022. EB-5 rural, high-unemployment and infrastructure set-aside categories remain Current for all countries.

Family-Sponsored Dates for Filing

Example: Eligible to File, Not Yet Current for Approval

The February 1, 2026 priority date is earlier than the November EB-2 ROW Date for Filing of March 15, 2026, but it is later than the Final Action Date of April 1, 2025.

Therefore, the visa-date condition for Form I-485 filing may be satisfied in November, assuming USCIS's filing chart and all other adjustment requirements apply. Final approval must await visa-number availability.

What Applicants Should Do After the November Visa Bulletin

The applicable USCIS rules are detailed in the USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part B, Chapter 8. For application procedure and document requirements, read Arvian's Form I-485 Adjustment of Status Guide.

November 2026 Visa Bulletin: Frequently Asked Questions

Official Sources

• Department of State: November 2026 Visa Bulletin
• Department of State: October 2026 Visa Bulletin
• USCIS: Adjustment of Status Filing Charts
• USCIS: Visa Availability and Priority Dates
• USCIS: Form I-485

Related Arvian Guides

• September 2026 Visa Bulletin: Family and Employment Changes
• Adjustment of Status with Form I-485
• October Bulletin: Missing DV-2027 Cut-Offs