Visa Bulletin July 2026: EB-2 India Unavailable, EB-3 China +143 Days

The July 2026 Visa Bulletin in detail: EB-2 India goes Unavailable, EB-1 India retreats 61 days, EB-3 China jumps 143 days, and EB-3 worldwide advances 61. Every Final Action cell measured from the published bulletin - no predictions.

Editor's note: This is the first issue of a monthly series covering each Visa Bulletin as published. The July 2026 bulletin below took effect on July 1; this issue launches the series mid-month, and the August issue will follow on the regular monthly cadence.

Final Action Dates this month

Cell	Status	Final Action cutoff	Movement vs last month
EB-1 India	cutoff date	2022-10-15	-61 days
EB-1 China (mainland born)	cutoff date	2023-06-01	+61 days
EB-1 All other countries	Current (C)	-	-
EB-2 India	Unavailable (U)	-	-
EB-2 China (mainland born)	cutoff date	2021-09-01	+0 days
EB-2 All other countries	Current (C)	-	-
EB-3 India	cutoff date	2014-01-01	+17 days
EB-3 China (mainland born)	cutoff date	2021-12-22	+143 days
EB-3 All other countries	cutoff date	2024-08-01	+61 days

The July bulletin splits sharply by category. EB-3 had a strong month: China jumped 143 days, all other countries advanced 61, and India added 17. EB-2 India went the other way entirely - from a September 2013 cutoff to Unavailable, meaning the State Department is not issuing green-card numbers in that category for the month. EB-1 India also gave back 61 days. Categories usually go Unavailable late in the fiscal year, when the annual supply of visa numbers runs low; availability resumes when the new fiscal year opens on October 1. Same bulletin, very different outcomes depending on where you stand.

Averages hide this kind of split. Across the EB-2 and EB-3 cells that posted movement, July averaged about 55 days of forward motion - the strong bulletin signal our July barometer picked up - yet that average contains both the biggest advance in the table (EB-3 China) and EB-2 India going Unavailable. That is why this series exists alongside the composite: the barometer tells you which way the wind blew on average, and this report shows each cell's actual number. These are the published Final Action Dates, not a forecast; for the freshest tables and each cell's history back to 2008, the live tracker is the place to look.

Movers

• Biggest advance: EB-3 China (mainland born) moved forward 143 days.
• Biggest retrogression: EB-1 India moved back 61 days.

Status changes (C/U transitions)

• EB-2 India: from a cutoff date of 2013-09-01 to Unavailable (U).

Pace vs trailing 12 months

• EB-1 India: -61 days this month, slower than its trailing average of +25.2 days/month (12 months with movement).
• EB-1 China (mainland born): +61 days this month, faster than its trailing average of +12.0 days/month (12 months with movement).
• EB-2 China (mainland born): +0 days this month, slower than its trailing average of +22.8 days/month (12 months with movement).
• EB-3 India: +17 days this month, slower than its trailing average of +20.3 days/month (12 months with movement).
• EB-3 China (mainland born): +143 days this month, faster than its trailing average of +21.0 days/month (12 months with movement).
• EB-3 All other countries: +61 days this month, faster than its trailing average of +39.9 days/month (12 months with movement).

Source / method

All dates are employment-based Final Action Dates from the U.S. State Department Visa Bulletin for July 2026: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin/2026/visa-bulletin-for-july-2026.html. Movement figures are calendar-day changes in each cell's cutoff vs the previous bulletin. A cell showing C (Current) or U (Unavailable) has no movement number - the transition is recorded as a status change, not fabricated as movement. This report describes the published bulletin; it does not predict any future cutoff, approval, or green-card date.

Full priority-date tables and history: visasalaries.com/bulletin