The U.S. Department of State’s April 2026 Visa Bulletin brought notable forward movement across several employment-based immigrant visa categories, offering relief for many applicants waiting in long backlogs, particularly those from India and China.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it will continue accepting adjustment of status applications in April using the Dates for Filing chart, a decision closely watched by employers, immigration attorneys, and workers seeking permanent residence through employment sponsorship.
For most countries, the employment-based first, second, and third preference categories remain current on the Dates for Filing chart. India and China continue to face the longest waits, though both countries saw some advancement in key categories.
Under the Final Action Dates chart, the EB-1 category advanced for both India and China to April 1, 2023. All other countries remain current in that category.
The EB-2 category also moved forward for India, advancing to July 15, 2014, while China remained unchanged at September 1, 2021. Other countries stayed current.
In the EB-3 category, India held at November 15, 2013, while China advanced to June 15, 2021. The Philippines remained at August 1, 2023. For applicants from countries outside those chargeability areas, the category advanced to June 1, 2024.
The bulletin also showed movement in the EB-4 and Certain Religious Workers categories, with all countries advancing to July 15, 2022, on the Final Action Dates chart.
In the EB-5 immigrant investor category, China advanced to September 1, 2016, while India remained at May 1, 2022. The reserved EB-5 set-aside categories for rural, high unemployment, and infrastructure projects continued to remain current for all countries.
On the Dates for Filing chart, India saw some of the largest gains. Both EB-2 and EB-3 filing dates advanced to January 15, 2015. China’s EB-2 and EB-3 filing dates remained unchanged at January 1, 2022.
The State Department indicated that part of the recent advancement reflects reduced visa demand tied to a processing pause affecting certain nationalities. At the same time, the agency cautioned that future retrogression remains possible later in the fiscal year if demand increases or policy conditions change.
That warning is significant for applicants considering whether to file adjustment applications in the coming months, particularly in categories where movement has accelerated after long periods of limited progress.
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The April bulletin is expected to draw close attention from employment-based applicants and U.S. companies managing long-running sponsorship cases, especially as filing eligibility expands for many workers whose priority dates were previously out of reach.
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