October 2026 visa bulletin explained: what it means for Indians

The October 2026 US visa bulletin is out, and for Indian applicants the headline is mixed: the EB-2 category is available again, but its cutoff date is stuck at November 1, 2013. Here is what each category means for you.
EB-1, for people with extraordinary ability, advances to February 1, 2023, for India. EB-2, for professionals with advanced degrees, returns after being unavailable in September, but only applicants with priority dates before November 2013 can proceed. EB-3 for skilled workers stays at January 1, 2014.
EB-5, the investor route, is available again for India with a cutoff of December 1, 2023. China has separate, mostly better dates across categories.
Immigration attorneys called this the most disappointing October bulletin in years. The October bulletin opens fiscal year 2027 and resets green card numbers, but the State Department gave no sign of how many unused visas will spill over. Attorney Rahul Reddy said the picture should get clearer by the November bulletin.
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