August 2026 Visa Bulletin: F2A Moves 18 Months Forward

Key takeaways

• F2A is effectively open. The cutoff of July 22, 2026 sits in the past. If your I-130 was filed before the middle of July, your priority date is current. Mexico is at July 22, 2025.
• For people inside the U.S., this changes approvals, not filing. F2A has been open on the filing chart for months. What is new is that pending I-485 cases can now be approved and visas can be issued abroad.
• F1 and F4 moved enough to matter. F1 is at December 15, 2018 and F4 is at September 1, 2009 for most countries. Both pulled in people who were stuck in July. F2B and F3 moved only a few weeks.
• Employment categories barely moved. EB-2 did not change anywhere. EB-3 moved one month. EB-2 and EB-5 Unreserved for India stay unavailable until October.
• Two warnings are buried in the bulletin. EB-1 for India may go unavailable within weeks. EB-2 may move backward for all countries, not only India.
• The reason behind the movement is the reason to act now. Entry restrictions left visa numbers unused, and those numbers expire on September 30. The State Department moved dates forward to spend them, and said dates may move backward later.
• October is the reset. New fiscal year, new limits, and no obligation to hold these dates. I would expect F2A to retrogress.

A quick note on two words you will see below. Your priority date is the day your petition was filed. The final action date is the cutoff. If your priority date is earlier than the cutoff, a visa can be issued to you.

Why the bulletin came out late

The State Department usually posts the next month's bulletin in the first half of the month before. The August bulletin arrived on July 20. VisaNation called it one of the latest releases in recent memory.

I have learned to read a late bulletin as a small signal. It usually means someone was still working out the math. And with two months left in the fiscal year, that math tends to produce unusual dates.

It did this time.

What changed in the family categories

Here is where the family final action dates landed in August, and where they were in July.

• ‍F2A, for spouses and children under 21 of green card holders, moved from January 1, 2025 to July 22, 2026 for most countries, including China, India, and the Philippines. Mexico moved from January 1, 2024 to July 22, 2025. This was the largest move in the bulletin.
• ‍F1, for adult unmarried children of U.S. citizens, moved from February 1, 2018 to December 15, 2018 for most countries, China, and India. That is about ten and a half months. Mexico moved a few weeks to December 1, 2007. The Philippines did not move and stayed at May 1, 2013.
• ‍F2B, for adult unmarried children of green card holders, moved from November 22, 2017 to January 1, 2018. The Philippines moved about two weeks to June 1, 2013. Mexico stayed at February 15, 2009.
• ‍F3, for married children of U.S. citizens, moved one month to May 15, 2012. Mexico moved one month to July 1, 2001. The Philippines stayed at February 22, 2006.
• ‍F4, for siblings of adult U.S. citizens, moved eight months to September 1, 2009 for most countries and China. India stayed at November 1, 2006. Mexico stayed at April 8, 2001. The Philippines stayed at August 1, 2007.

Something in that list stands out to me. F2A, F1, and F4 moved in months. F2B and F3 moved in weeks. The Philippines and Mexico got almost nothing.

So the movement was not spread evenly. It went to the places where the government could actually issue visas quickly, and the oldest, most crowded lines were mostly left alone.

Why the F2A date matters more than the number suggests

Look at the F2A date again. July 22, 2026. If you filed an I-130 in this category before the middle of July, your priority date is current. In practice, F2A is open to almost everyone waiting in it.

I have not seen a family category get this close to the present day without simply being marked C, which means current. That choice is interesting on its own. A date can be pulled back later. A C is harder to walk back quietly.

There is a second detail below the chart that I think deserves more attention. F2A has two pools of visa numbers. One pool is exempt from the per-country cap, and in August that pool only goes to people with priority dates before July 22, 2025.

Everyone in the new window, from July 2025 forward, is drawing from the pool that is capped by country. That pool is the one that empties first.

So the people who just became eligible are sitting in the least stable part of the allocation. Worth knowing before you assume the window will stay open.

Which chart do you use in August?

USCIS confirmed that in August 2026, family applicants use the Dates for Filing chart and employment applicants use the Final Action Dates chart. Same as July.

This is where I see people get confused, so let me slow down here.

F2A has been marked C on the Dates for Filing chart for months. It was C in July. It is C in August. If you are inside the United States and waiting to file Form I-485 in F2A, this bulletin did not change your ability to file. You could already file.

The final action date controls something different. It controls approval and visa issuance.

So the real news for F2A is that the I-485 applications already sitting in the queue can now be approved. Cases at consulates abroad can have visas issued. For a category where filing was already open to everyone, that is the entire story.

If your F2A case has been pending for a while and your interview or interview waiver is done, this is a month where it can actually move.

What happened in the employment categories

Small movement in a few places, and two hard stops.

• ‍EB-1 stayed current for most countries, Mexico, and the Philippines. China moved to July 1, 2023. India stayed at October 15, 2022.
• ‍EB-2 did not change anywhere. It is current for most countries, September 1, 2021 for China, and unavailable for India.
• ‍EB-3 moved one month to September 1, 2024 for most countries. China moved to January 1, 2022. India stayed at January 1, 2014. The Philippines stayed at August 1, 2023. Other Workers is at April 1, 2022 for most countries, May 1, 2019 for China, and January 1, 2014 for India.
• ‍EB-4 and Certain Religious Workers are at October 15, 2022 for every country.
• ‍EB-5 Unreserved is current for most countries, December 1, 2016 for China, and unavailable for India. The three set-aside categories are current for everyone.

India's EB-2 became unavailable in the July bulletin once India's share of the annual limit was used up. Murthy Law Firm noted that all EB-2 India numbers for this fiscal year have been allocated. That will not change before October.

Two warnings sit near the bottom of the bulletin, and they get skipped often. The State Department says EB-1 for India may become unavailable in the coming weeks if India's share runs out. It also says EB-2 may need to move backward or become unavailable for all countries, not just India.

That second warning is easy to miss if you are in EB-2 worldwide and comfortable at current.

Why the State Department moved these dates

This part is stated plainly in the bulletin, in a section most coverage skips.

Visa issuance for people from certain countries has dropped because of the administration's entry restrictions. The bulletin names Presidential Proclamation 10949, Presidential Proclamation 10998, and processing changes tied to public benefits. Visa numbers set aside for those applicants are simply not being used.

Congress caps family visas at 226,000 a year. Unused numbers do not carry over to next year. They disappear on September 30.

So the State Department has been pushing dates forward in other categories to use those numbers before they are gone.

The diversity visa numbers tell the same story. The Africa cutoff rank goes from 60,000 in August to 101,250 in September. Europe goes from 29,000 to 47,500. An agency worried about running short does not publish numbers like that.

Which brings me to how I read this bulletin. The F2A jump is a transfer. Restriction in one place created unused numbers, and those numbers went to spouses and children of green card holders, because those cases are ready to process and easy to find in volume.

The bulletin is honest about how long this lasts. It warns that "retrogression may be necessary in the upcoming months," which is the polite way of saying dates can move backward.

What September and October may look like

September is the last month of the fiscal year, so I would expect more of the same. Generous dates, more warnings, and a real chance that a category goes unavailable partway through the month.

October is a reset. New fiscal year, fresh limits, and no reason for the State Department to hold August's dates.

My honest guess is that F2A moves backward in October, possibly by a lot. A category does not stay eighteen months ahead of where it was in July unless demand disappeared, and there is no sign that demand for F2A disappeared.

If the entry restrictions ease at some point, the unused numbers behind this window go away with them.

Next steps

If you are in F2A, inside the United States, and you have not filed your I-485 yet, file this month. The filing chart has been open, your priority date is almost certainly past the cutoff, and this window depends on conditions the State Department has told you may not hold.

If your F2A I-485 is already pending, check your case status weekly instead of monthly for the next two months. Make sure your medical exam is valid and any open requests for evidence are answered.

If you are in F1 or F4, compare your priority date against the new cutoffs. Ten and a half months and eight months of movement pulled in a lot of people who were not eligible in July.

If you are in EB-2 worldwide and current, treat the warning in the bulletin as a real deadline.

If you are in EB-2 India or EB-5 Unreserved India, October is the next date that matters to you. Nothing before September 30 will change your position.

Check the official bulletin against your own priority date before you act on any of this. Confirm the chart on the USCIS filing charts page too, since it can change from month to month.

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