Green-card queue moves; EB-1 stays put
The September US Visa Bulletin advances several India family-preference cut-offs, but it is a cut-off date—not a green-card delivery promise.
September’s bulletin moves some family-visa cut-offs; EB-1 remains at October 15, 2022.
Indian families in several US family-based green-card categories got substantial movement in the September 2026 Visa Bulletin. The F1 cut-off moved from December 15, 2018, to January 22, 2020; F2B from January 1, 2018, to August 22, 2019; and F3 from May 15, 2012, to October 22, 2014. F2A moved one month, to August 22, 2026. F4 did not move at all, remaining at November 1, 2006. The queue has not exactly discovered instant service, but parts of it have moved.
The US Department of State says numbers can be issued only to applicants whose priority dates are earlier than the listed Final Action Date. Its September bulletin also lists separate Dates for Filing, and directs adjustment-of-status applicants to check USCIS guidance; this does not establish that the filing chart may be used in September.
For Indian EB-1 applicants, the cut-off remained October 15, 2022. The department repeated its warning that high demand could make the category unavailable before the fiscal year ends on September 30. “May” remains the operative word. The warning was already in August, so September brought no new miracle—just a larger family-visa move and the same familiar queue management.