Visa Bulletin
Updated October 2026 | By Kodem Law Immigration Practice Group
October Visa Bulletin 2026: Family-Sponsored Preferences
The October 2026 Visa Bulletin brings modest advancement across the family-sponsored preferences and no retrogression anywhere — every category either moved forward or held its September position. Mexico and the Philippines carried most of the movement.
Which chartUSCIS is accepting family-sponsored adjustment of status filings under the Dates for Filing chart in October 2026. If your priority date is earlier than the Dates for Filing cutoff for your category and country, you can file now. USCIS can change this from month to month, so confirm at uscis.gov/visabulletininfo before you file.
ContextIf you have read that the October bulletin brought retrogressions, that is the employment charts, not these — the family preferences absorbed the fiscal-year reset without one, as they also did at the FY2026 boundary.
Dates for Filing for Family-Sponsored Adjustment of Status Applications
The Dates for Filing chart governs when an application may be submitted, and in October 2026 it is the chart USCIS is using for family-sponsored adjustment of status filings. A priority date earlier than the cutoff means the application can be lodged; it says nothing about when a visa will actually be issued.
| Family-Sponsored | All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed | China (Mainland Born) | India | Mexico | Philippines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | 01 Feb 2020 | 01 Feb 2020 | 01 Feb 2020 | 01 Dec 2008 | 22 Apr 2015 |
| F2A | Current | Current | Current | Current | Current |
| F2B | 01 Sep 2019 | 01 Sep 2019 | 01 Sep 2019 | ▲ 22 Mar 2011was 15 May 2010 | ▲ 01 Oct 2014was 01 Oct 2013 |
| F3 | 01 Nov 2014 | 01 Nov 2014 | 01 Nov 2014 | ▲ 01 Dec 2002was 15 Jul 2001 | ▲ 22 Oct 2006was 08 Aug 2006 |
| F4 | 01 Nov 2011 | 01 Nov 2011 | ▲ 01 Feb 2007was 15 Dec 2006 | 30 Apr 2001 | ▲ 22 Mar 2009was 22 Mar 2008 |
▲ advanced ▼ retrogressed plain text = unchanged from September 2026.
What Moved This Month
Each change below compares this month’s cutoff date with the September 2026 bulletin, for the same category and country. “Advanced by 8 months and 7 days” means the cutoff moved from one calendar date to another.
| Category | Dates for Filing — Change | Final Action Dates — Change |
|---|---|---|
| F1 | No change |
▲Mexico: Advanced by 8 months and 7 days▲Philippines: Advanced by 6 months
Unchanged: All Areas, China, India
|
| F2A | No change |
▲All Areas, China, India, Philippines: Advanced by 1 month▲Mexico: Advanced by 7 months
|
| F2B |
▲Mexico: Advanced by 10 months and 7 days▲Philippines: Advanced by 1 year
Unchanged: All Areas, China, India
|
▲Mexico: Advanced by 1 year and 3 months▲Philippines: Advanced by 4 months
Unchanged: All Areas, China, India
|
| F3 |
▲Mexico: Advanced by 1 year, 4 months and 16 days▲Philippines: Advanced by 2 months and 14 days
Unchanged: All Areas, China, India
|
▲Philippines: Advanced by 5 months
Unchanged: All Areas, China, India, Mexico
|
| F4 |
▲India: Advanced by 1 month and 17 days▲Philippines: Advanced by 1 year
Unchanged: All Areas, China, Mexico
|
▲India: Advanced by 1 month and 14 days▲Mexico: Advanced by 14 days▲Philippines: Advanced by 8 months and 23 days
Unchanged: All Areas, China
|
Dates for Filing — Category by Category
F1 — Family-sponsored First Preference Category (Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens)
No movement on this chart in any column. F1 filing dates are unchanged from September across every chargeability area, so nobody’s filing window opened or closed here.
F2A — Family-sponsored Second Preference Category (Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents)
F2A remains Current on the filing chart for every country, including Mexico — which is not an accident of the queue but of the statute: under INA 202(a)(4)(A), 75 per cent of F2A visas are issued without regard to the per-country limit. Because USCIS is accepting October filings under Dates for Filing, anyone with an approved or pending I-130 in this category who is otherwise eligible to adjust status can file now. Applicants outside the United States go through consular processing instead.
F2B — Family-sponsored Second Preference Category (Unmarried Sons and Daughters 21 or Older of Permanent Residents)
Mexico and the Philippines carried the movement; the Philippines picked up a clean twelve months. All Chargeability Areas, China and India did not move, so the practical effect is limited to those two backlogs.
F3 — Family-sponsored Third Preference Category (Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens)
Mexico advanced by more than sixteen months on this chart, the largest single family move of the month. If you have been watching an F3 Mexico case, this is the month to check the priority date against the new cutoff.
F4 — Family-sponsored Fourth Preference Category (Siblings of Adult U.S. Citizens)
India advanced by a month and a half and the Philippines by a full year. Mexico did not move, which leaves the longest-waiting F4 population where it was.
Final Action Dates for Family-Sponsored Adjustment of Status Applications
The Final Action Dates chart governs when a visa may be issued or adjustment approved. This is the chart that determines whether a case can actually be finished this month.
| Family-Sponsored | All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed | China (Mainland Born) | India | Mexico | Philippines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | 22 Jan 2020 | 22 Jan 2020 | 22 Jan 2020 | ▲ 08 Sep 2008was 01 Jan 2008 | ▲ 01 Nov 2013was 01 May 2013 |
| F2A | ▲ 22 Sep 2026was 22 Aug 2026 | ▲ 22 Sep 2026was 22 Aug 2026 | ▲ 22 Sep 2026was 22 Aug 2026 | ▲ 22 Mar 2026was 22 Aug 2025 | ▲ 22 Sep 2026was 22 Aug 2026 |
| F2B | 22 Aug 2019 | 22 Aug 2019 | 22 Aug 2019 | ▲ 15 May 2010was 15 Feb 2009 | ▲ 01 Oct 2013was 01 Jun 2013 |
| F3 | 22 Oct 2014 | 22 Oct 2014 | 22 Oct 2014 | 01 Jul 2001 | ▲ 22 Jul 2006was 22 Feb 2006 |
| F4 | 22 Oct 2011 | 22 Oct 2011 | ▲ 15 Dec 2006was 01 Nov 2006 | ▲ 22 Apr 2001was 08 Apr 2001 | ▲ 15 May 2008was 22 Aug 2007 |
▲ advanced ▼ retrogressed plain text = unchanged from September 2026.
Final Action Dates — Category by Category
F1 — Family-sponsored First Preference Category (Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens)
Mexico and the Philippines advanced; the other three columns held. An F1 Mexico cutoff now sits in September 2008, which is the kind of movement that matters only if your priority date is sitting in that window.
F2A — Family-sponsored Second Preference Category (Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents)
A uniform one-month advance across All Chargeability Areas, China, India and the Philippines, and seven months for Mexico. The Mexico move is the point of interest: F2A Mexico sits six months behind the worldwide date while F3 and F4 Mexico are still cut off in 2001, which is the per-country exemption for F2A doing its work.
F2B — Family-sponsored Second Preference Category (Unmarried Sons and Daughters 21 or Older of Permanent Residents)
Mexico advanced fifteen months and the Philippines four. The three static columns mean most F2B applicants see no change in when their case can be finished.
F3 — Family-sponsored Third Preference Category (Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens)
Only the Philippines moved, by five months. All Chargeability Areas, China, India and Mexico are unchanged from September.
F4 — Family-sponsored Fourth Preference Category (Siblings of Adult U.S. Citizens)
The Philippines advanced by nearly nine months, India by six weeks and Mexico by two weeks. F4 Mexico and F3 Mexico are the two deepest backlogs on the family charts, both still cut off in 2001 and roughly ten weeks apart.
October 2026 Family-Sponsored Visa Bulletin: Key Questions Answered
The questions below are the ones petitioners and beneficiaries ask in the first week after a bulletin drops.
Q1Did any family-sponsored category retrogress in October 2026?
No. Across both charts, all five categories and all five chargeability areas, every cutoff date either advanced or held its September position. That is fifty cutoff dates with no backward movement.
This is worth stating plainly because the employment-based charts did retrogress this month, and coverage that treats “the October bulletin” as one thing will give family-sponsored readers the wrong impression.
Q2Which chart do I use to file my I-485?
Dates for Filing, this month. For October 2026 USCIS is accepting family-sponsored adjustment of status applications under the Dates for Filing chart, so an applicant whose priority date is earlier than the Dates for Filing cutoff for their category and country can file now.
The rule behind it: the bulletin’s default is the Final Action Dates chart, and USCIS can move adjustment filers to Dates for Filing for a given month, publishing that decision at uscis.gov/visabulletininfo. It can move back in any month, so check that page before every filing. Filing against the wrong chart will get an otherwise correct I-485 rejected, and a rejected filing keeps no filing date.
Q3My priority date is now earlier than the cutoff. What happens next?
It depends which chart moved past you. If your date is now earlier than the Dates for Filing cutoff, you can submit the application, because USCIS has designated that chart for October 2026. If your date is earlier than the Final Action Date, a visa number can be requested and allocated, and the case can be approved — assuming everything else is in order: an approved petition, admissibility, and any interview completed.
Those are different events and they can be years apart. A date that clears the filing chart does not mean a decision is close.
Q4F2A shows Current on the filing chart but a date on the final action chart. Why?
Because the two charts answer different questions. Current on Dates for Filing means there is no queue to join — anyone in the category may lodge the application. The Final Action Date is the point at which a visa number is actually allocated.
In practice this is the most favourable shape a category can have, but filing is not costless. The sponsor’s Form I-864 obligations attach, travel without advance parole risks the application being treated as abandoned, and — the one people miss — the Child Status Protection Act clock starts. See the next question.
Q5My child is approaching 21. Does a moving filing chart affect them?
Yes, and this is the question worth asking before any other. Since February 2023 USCIS uses the Dates for Filing chart to decide when a visa became “available” for Child Status Protection Act purposes, which is the date that freezes the child’s calculated age.
It also starts a clock. The child must “seek to acquire” permanent residence within one year of that availability date, ordinarily by filing the I-485 or the immigrant visa application. A filing chart that becomes Current is therefore not only permission to file — for a family with a child near 21 it is a deadline. Missing it can cost the protection entirely.
Q6Why did Mexico and the Philippines move when the other columns did not?
Per-country limits. Under INA 202(a)(2) no single country may receive more than seven per cent of the combined annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference totals — the bulletin puts that at 25,620 visas for FY2027, with a 2 per cent dependent-area limit of 7,320. That is why Mexico, the Philippines, India and China carry their own cutoffs while everywhere else shares the All Chargeability Areas column. F2A is the notable exception: 75 per cent of F2A visas are issued without regard to the per-country limit under INA 202(a)(4)(A), which is why F2A Mexico sits only six months behind the worldwide date while F3 and F4 Mexico are still cut off in 2001.
When the worldwide column is not under pressure it can sit still for months while the oversubscribed columns move as their own queues clear. That is what happened in October.
Q7Does October opening a new fiscal year change anything for family cases?
It resets the annual numerical limits, which is what makes October movement worth watching. On the employment side that reset forced several categories out of Current this month.
The family-sponsored preferences absorbed it without retrogressing anywhere, so for family filers the fiscal-year change is visible in the arithmetic rather than in any loss of position.
Q8Where do I check my own priority date?
On the Form I-797 approval or receipt notice for the underlying I-130. The priority date is the date the petition was properly filed with USCIS, not the date it was approved — a rejected or improperly filed petition establishes nothing — and it does not change when the case is transferred or the beneficiary moves.
Compare it against the column for the beneficiary’s country of chargeability — usually the country of birth, not citizenship, and not where they live now.
Q9How often do the family-sponsored dates move, and can they go backwards?
The bulletin is published monthly, usually in the middle of the month for the month ahead, so each set of cutoffs is known a couple of weeks before it takes effect. Movement varies from nothing to more than a year in a single step, as F3 Mexico did this month.
And yes, dates can retrogress. It did not happen anywhere in the family charts in October, but it is a normal feature of the system rather than an error — when demand in a category outruns the numbers available, the Department pulls the cutoff back to stay within the limit. That is why a priority date becoming current is a reason to move rather than a reason to relax.
How Can Kodem Law Help You?
The visa bulletin is a monthly arithmetic problem with a legal answer attached. The numbers are public; what they mean for a particular case depends on the priority date, the country of chargeability, which chart USCIS has designated this month, and whether anything in the file has changed since the petition was approved.
Kodem Law works those specifics: reading your priority date against the right column; checking whether cross-chargeability applies, which under INA 202(b)(2) it can where a spouse was born elsewhere and the couple is immigrating together or one is following to join; running the Child Status Protection Act calculation before a child turns 21; assembling the adjustment package so it is ready the month your date clears; and handling the consular route where adjustment is not available.
