November 2026 Visa Bulletin: Four Family Categories Jump a Full Year, and USCIS Is Taking Filings on the Earlier Chart

Accurate as of October 26, 2026

The State Department released the November 2026 Visa Bulletin on October 22, 2026. It is the second bulletin of fiscal year 2027, and for families it is the most generous one in months: four family preference categories advance by a full year for most of the world in a single step.

USCIS has also confirmed which chart it will use. For November, applicants in every family and employment preference category must use the Dates for Filing chart to decide whether they can file Form I-485.

The family categories

For applicants charged to "all chargeability areas" (most countries other than China, India, Mexico and the Philippines), the Final Action Dates move as follows:

The Dates for Filing chart, which USCIS is using this month, moves the same four categories by a year as well: F1 to February 1, 2021, F2B to September 1, 2020, F3 to November 1, 2015 and F4 to November 1, 2012. F2A remains current on the filing chart.

The country exceptions matter. For Mexico, F1 moves two weeks, to September 22, 2008, and F3 moves two weeks, to July 15, 2001; F2B and F4 do not move. For the Philippines, only F2A moves; F1, F2B, F3 and F4 stay where they were. Mexico F2A advances one month, to April 22, 2026. India F4 stays at December 15, 2006. China follows the worldwide dates in every family category.

The employment categories

For China, EB-1 advances one month to August 1, 2023 and EB-3 advances two weeks to January 22, 2022; EB-2 China stays at October 1, 2021. For India, EB-1 stays at February 1, 2023 and EB-2 India does not move from November 1, 2013; EB-3 India advances three weeks to January 22, 2014. The EB-5 set aside categories (rural, high unemployment and infrastructure) remain current for every country. EB-5 unreserved stays at December 1, 2016 for China and December 1, 2023 for India.

On the Dates for Filing chart, the only employment movement is EB-3 Other Workers, which advances one month to July 1, 2022 for most countries. Everything else is unchanged, including EB-2 at March 15, 2026 for most countries.

What the filing chart means this month

When USCIS uses the Dates for Filing chart, an applicant whose priority date is earlier than the filing date can submit Form I-485 now, even though a visa number is not yet available for final approval. That has real value: a pending adjustment application allows the applicant to request work and travel authorization while the case waits for a visa number. It does not, on its own, lock in a child's age; under current USCIS policy the Child Status Protection Act calculation turns on the Final Action Dates chart.

The family jump is where this matters most. A brother or sister of a U.S. citizen with a priority date in 2012, an F3 married son or daughter with a 2015 date, or an F2B adult child with a 2020 date may become eligible to file for the first time.

Filing is not the same as being safe in 2026

Three things are different this year, and each should be weighed before anyone files.

Eligibility to adjust is narrower than eligibility to file. Most family preference beneficiaries who are inside the United States must have entered lawfully and maintained status to adjust here. Many family beneficiaries are abroad and will be processed by the National Visa Center and a consulate, which schedules interviews by the Final Action Dates, not the filing chart.

USCIS now treats adjustment as discretionary in a stronger sense. Under the May 2026 USCIS memo we covered in our October 8 brief, officers are directed to treat adjustment as extraordinary relief, and since August USCIS may deny without first issuing a request for evidence. A filing that is technically permitted can still be denied on discretion, and a denial can leave an applicant without status.

The public charge rule changed on September 18. Any family based adjustment filed now is decided under the 2026 public charge framework, which looks closely at the household and its finances. That analysis should be done before the filing fee is spent, not after.

What to do

1. Check your priority date against both charts. The date on your Form I-797 approval notice for the I-130 or I-140 is your priority date. If it is earlier than the November Dates for Filing date for your category and country, you may be able to file this month.
2. Confirm you can adjust inside the United States before filing. Entry, status history and any past overstays decide this, not the bulletin.
3. If you are abroad, make sure the National Visa Center case is complete. Consular interviews follow the Final Action Dates, which moved by the same year in most family categories.
4. For India EB-2, there is no movement. Use the time to keep status and extensions in order, especially now that USCIS has proposed ending deference to prior approvals on extensions.
5. File in November if you are going to. Bulletins can hold or retreat, and USCIS decides month by month which chart it will honor.

To review your priority date and whether adjustment or consular processing is right for your family, call Samper Law at (781) 321-3700. We consult in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

Sources

• U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for November 2026 (released October 22, 2026), and Visa Bulletin for October 2026, travel.state.gov.
• USCIS, Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin, November 2026 (AILA Doc. No. 26102303): Dates for Filing chart for all family and employment preference categories.
• USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0199 (May 21, 2026), as described in our October 8, 2026 litigation brief.
• Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility, 91 FR 45324 (July 20, 2026), effective September 18, 2026.

General information, not legal advice. Reading this article does not create an attorney client relationship.