November visa bulletin 2026: What Indian Green Card applicants must know about cut-off dates

The November 2026 visa bulletin, published by the State Department on October 22, makes no drastic changes to cut-off dates. And there is no retrogression either, which means there is no good or bad news for Indians waiting for their Green Cards.EB-1 categoryThe EB1 cutoff date for China advances to Aug 1, 2023. India’s cutoff date remains February 1, 2023. EB1 remains current for all other countries.EB-2 categoryThe EB2 cutoff date advances to April 1, 2025 for all countries except China and India. China’s cutoff date remains October 1, 2021, and India’s remains November 1, 2013.EB-3 categoryFor EB-3 skilled workers and professionals, the cutoff date advances to June 15, 2024 for all countries other than China, India, and the Philippines. China’s cutoff date advances to January 22, 2022, and India’s advances to January 22, 2014. The Philippines remains at August 15, 2023.EB-3 Other WorkersThe EB3 Other Workers cutoff date advances to June 1, 2022 for all countries other than China, India, and the Philippines. India advances to January 22, 2014. China remains at October 1, 2019, and the Philippines remains at January 1, 2022.Employment-Based, Fifth Preference (EB5) CategoryThe EB5 unreserved cutoff date remains December 1, 2016 for China and December 1, 2023 for India. The unreserved category remains current for all other countries.Family-Based, Second-Preference (FB2A and FB2B) CategoryFamily-based categories saw cut-off dates advancing significantly.The FB2A final action cutoff date advances to Oct 22, 2026 for all countries except Mexico, which advances to April 22, 2026. In the FB2B category, the cutoff date advances to August 22, 2020 for all countries except Mexico and the Philippines. Mexico remains at May 15, 2010, and the Philippines remains at October 1, 2013.What Indians should knowEB-1 and EB-2: No progress in November's Final Action Dates.EB-3: A modest advance of about three weeks, to January 22, 2014.EB-5: No change in the unreserved category; set-aside categories remain current.Family-sponsored cases: The bulletin provides separate cut-off dates for each relationship category, with F2A at October 22, 2026.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.