H1B Visa Lawyer Blog
The Visa Bulletin (VB) is a monthly U.S. government report released by the State Department’s Travel Website. This monthly bulletin tells you when you can get a green card based on your priority date.
Summary of Key points for VB for February 2026:
Employment-Based (EB) Categories
- Little to no advancement in most categories, especially for high-demand countries like India and China — all cutoff dates remain the same as January 2026.
- The main exception is EB-3 Professionals and Skilled Workers for Worldwide (All Chargeability Areas except China/India), Mexico, and Philippines:
- Final Action Dates advance by about 5 weeks (e.g., to around June 1, 2023, based on reports).
- Dates for Filing advance by 3 months.
- EB-1 remains unchanged (e.g., cutoff around February 1, 2023 for Worldwide).
- EB-4 Certain Religious Workers (SR) is Unavailable for all countries in February, following the program’s expiration after January 29/30, 2026.
- USCIS has indicated (as of early January announcements) that it will honor the Dates for Filing chart (Chart B) for employment-based adjustment of status filings in February 2026 — check the USCIS website for the final confirmation, as it is typically posted shortly after the bulletin release.
Family-Sponsored Categories
- Generally stable with little to no movement reported across most preferences (F1, F2A, F2B, F3, F4).
- Specific advancements, if any, are modest and vary by country; high-backlog countries like India (especially F4) continue to see very slow or no progress.
Diversity Visa (DV-2026)
- Numbers remain available for qualified applicants in all regions/eligible countries.
- The annual limit is reduced to approximately 52,000 due to prior legislative adjustments (e.g., NACARA deductions).
- Availability through the end of FY-2026 (September 30, 2026) is not guaranteed — numbers could be exhausted earlier.
For the full details, including exact cutoff dates by category and country, refer to the official Visa Bulletin on the Department of State website: Visa Bulletin for February 2026
Source of Information:
- Dept. of State (travel.state.gov), Website: Visa Bulletin
- Dept. of State (travel.state.gov), 1/5/26, Department of State Publication 9514: Visa Bulletin For February 2026
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