July 2026 Visa Bulletin Released: What Employers Need to Know

The U.S. Department of State released the July 2026 Visa Bulletin, which outlines priority date cutoffs for employment-based immigrant visas. The bulletin indicates little to no forward movement in most categories for India and China, the two countries with the highest demand.

For EB-2 India, the final action date remains at January 1, 2012, unchanged from the previous month. EB-3 India also saw no movement, staying at January 1, 2012. China’s EB-2 and EB-3 categories similarly remained static, with final action dates at July 1, 2019, and September 1, 2019, respectively.

The EB-1 category for India advanced by one week to February 15, 2022, while China’s EB-1 stayed at February 1, 2022. The bulletin’s dates for filing chart, which allows applicants to submit documents earlier, showed no changes for India or China in any employment-based category.

Employers sponsoring foreign workers should anticipate continued delays for Indian and Chinese nationals. The lack of movement reflects high demand and limited visa numbers under the annual caps. Employers may need to explore alternative visa options or plan for extended wait times.

The bulletin also confirmed that the EB-5 unreserved category for India and China remained unchanged. All other countries remain current for most employment-based categories, except for certain EB-3 and other worker subcategories.