The U.S. Department of State has released the October 2026 Visa Bulletin, the first bulletin of the federal government’s Fiscal Year 2027. While the new charts advance modestly in several family categories, employment-based demand—especially in EB-2 and EB-3 for Indians and mainland-born Chinese—remains severe. In the employment table, EB-2 India moves forward only six weeks to 15 March 2012, and EB-3 India inches ahead a single week to 1 October 2012. EB-1 China and India stay retrogressed to 1 January 2024, reflecting heavy usage of last year’s reserved visa numbers. By contrast, all first-preference worldwide categories are Current, giving multinationals more flexibility when sponsoring executives born outside high-demand countries. USCIS has confirmed it will accept adjustment-of-status filings based on the Final Action Dates chart for October, dashing hopes that the more generous “Dates for Filing” chart might open. As a result, highly skilled workers from India and China with priority dates after 2012-2014 remain stuck in non-immigrant status despite years—often decades—of U.S. employment. Corporate mobility managers should prepare for continued attrition risk among long-term H-1B and L-1 employees. Strategies include filing downgrades, pursuing EB-5 or NIW categories where feasible, and using the new STEM OPT guidance to keep early-career talent on-shore. Employers with worldwide talent pools may also consider “rest-of-world” beneficiaries for international assignments, given the Current status of EB-2 and EB-3 in those chargeability areas. Finally, the FY 2027 quota reset means 140,000 new employment-based numbers are available, but State warns that demand could force additional retrogression mid-year. HR teams should file eligible I-485s promptly on October 1 to lock in visas before numbers disappear.
Source: U.S. Department of State
