September 2026 Visa Bulletin: which chart

For September 2026, US Citizenship and Immigration Services will accept the Dates for Filing chart from family-sponsored applicants and the Final Action Dates chart from employment-based applicants. The decision is posted on the agency's adjustment of status filing charts page, and it applies to people filing inside the United States.

Why there are two charts

The State Department's monthly Visa Bulletin summarizes immigrant visa availability in two ways at once. The Final Action Dates chart shows the point at which a visa can actually be issued for a given category and country. The Dates for Filing chart shows an earlier point, at which applicants should be notified to assemble and submit their documentation.

USCIS then decides which of the two it will accept for adjustment of status. Its own rule, on the priority-dates page, is that when the agency determines there are more immigrant visas available for the fiscal year than there are known applicants, applicants may use the Dates for Filing chart; otherwise they must use the Final Action Dates chart.

What the September decision means in practice

For family-sponsored preference categories, the earlier chart applies, so more people can file this month than could if the stricter chart were in force. For employment-based categories, the stricter chart applies: a priority date must be earlier than the Final Action Dates entry for the category and country of chargeability before an adjustment application can be filed.

The two decisions are made separately, and they diverge often. A household with a family petition and an employment petition can find one route open and the other closed in the same month.

Reading your own date

The priority date comes from the petition, not the application. For family cases it is the date the Form I-130 was properly filed with USCIS. For employment cases it depends on the category: where a labor certification is required, it is the date the Department of Labor accepted that application for processing.

If the bulletin shows a date earlier than yours for your category and country, the queue has not yet reached you. If it shows a later one, a visa is available in that sense and, subject to the chart USCIS accepts, filing may be possible.

When dates move backwards

A date that was current can retrogress. USCIS describes visa retrogression as what happens when more people apply in a category than there are visas available that month, and says it generally occurs when the annual limit for a category or country has been exhausted or is expected to run out. Retrogression does not cancel an application already filed; it delays the point at which a visa can be issued.

The Visa Bulletin tracker records the chart decision each month, and the H-1B tracker carries the separate cap season for people on that route.