The State Department’s latest Visa Bulletin reveals a green card system pulling in two directions at once. Family-sponsored applicants are gaining ground across several categories, while employment-based pathways, especially for applicants from India, are running into fresh limits.
The monthly bulletin determines when applicants already in line can move forward with their green card applications, making it a closely watched document for hundreds of thousands of people. According to reports, the July figures confirm that EB-2 and EB-5 unreserved visas for India are now unavailable for the rest of the fiscal year, while family categories such as F1, F2B, F3 and F4 all advanced.
Family Categories See Broad Forward Movement
July stands out from June because gains are spread across multiple family-sponsored categories rather than clustered in just one. Final Action Dates, which determine when a green card can actually be issued, moved forward for unmarried adult children of citizens, adult children of green card holders, married children of citizens, and siblings of citizens, with most countries seeing dates shift forward by one to five months.
F2A, the category covering spouses and children of green card holders, was the exception. After a sharp jump in June, this group’s Final Action Date held steady in July at January 1, 2025, for most countries and January 1, 2024, for Mexico. As the bulletin notes, this pause suggests the prior month’s advance has settled rather than continued.
Other family categories showed the same pattern of broad progress paired with exceptions for Mexico and the Philippines. F3, covering married children of citizens, moved from February 15, 2012, to April 15, 2012, for most countries, while Mexico and the Philippines saw smaller, separate advances. F4, the category for siblings of citizens, progressed from November 8, 2008, to January 1, 2009, for most regions, though Mexico’s date did not move at all.
Filing dates, which govern when paperwork can first be submitted, also improved for several family categories. F1 moved from October 1, 2018, to January 1, 2019, for most countries, while F2B advanced from March 22, 2018, to June 8, 2018. Mexico and the Philippines were frequently left out of these gains, with their dates remaining static across multiple categories. F2A remained current throughout, meaning applicants in that group can file regardless of priority date.
Employment Visas Tighten Sharply for India
The picture looks markedly different for employment-based applicants, particularly those from India. EB-2 India, which had already retreated in June, is now listed as unavailable for the remainder of fiscal year 2026, meaning no further visas in that category will be issued until at least October. EB-5 unreserved visas for India followed the same trajectory, moving from a cautionary warning in June to full unavailability in July.
EB-1 India also slipped backward, with its Final Action Date moving from December 15, 2022, to October 15, 2022. As the bulletin describes it, this marks a continuation of demand pressure that has been building for months.
Not every employment category lost ground. EB-3 visas advanced for most countries, moving from June 1, 2024, to August 1, 2024, with China posting a particularly large jump from August 1, 2021, to December 22, 2021. India’s EB-3 date inched forward by one month to January 1, 2014, and the Other Workers category saw similarly modest gains across several countries. EB-4 and religious worker categories advanced by two months, from July 15, 2022, to September 15, 2022, across all countries.
Despite these pockets of progress, filing dates for every employment-based category remained frozen at June levels, meaning any improvement was confined to final approval timelines rather than the earlier stages of the process.
Officials flagged additional categories that could face restrictions if demand keeps rising, including EB-2 China and EB-3 Philippines. The bulletin also noted gains in the Diversity Visa program, with allocations increasing for countries including Algeria, Egypt, Nepal, and several broader regions, expanding eligibility slightly for applicants in the DV-2026 lottery.
Taken together, the July bulletin shows a system advancing on one front while constricting on another, with fiscal year limits approaching and the possibility of further retrogression in the months ahead.