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 March 2026:
Employment-Based (EB) Categories
These show modest or no movement in most cases compared to prior bulletins:
- F1 (Unmarried Sons/Daughters of U.S. Citizens):
- All Chargeability Areas / China / India / Philippines: 01SEP17
- Mexico: 01DEC07
- F2A (Spouses/Minor Children of Permanent Residents): 22FEB26 (worldwide, including all listed countries; slight forward movement noted in some analyses).
- F2B (Unmarried Adult Sons/Daughters of Permanent Residents):
- All Chargeability Areas / China / India: 15MAR17
- Mexico: 15FEB10
- Philippines: 01OCT13
- F3 (Married Sons/Daughters of U.S. Citizens):
- All Chargeability Areas / China / India: 22JUL12
- Mexico: 01JUL01
- Philippines: 01JUN06 (some reports note minor advance for Philippines)
- F4 (Siblings of U.S. Citizens):
- All Chargeability Areas / China: 01MAR09
- India: 15DEC06
- Mexico: 30APR01
- Philippines: 15JAN08
Family categories generally see limited forward progress, with F2A showing the most recent dates (near current for many).
Family-Sponsored Categories
Family-Sponsored Categories reported in Dates for Filing, e.g., up to 11 months or 335 days in some analyses)
This bulletin features significant forward movement in many EB categories, described as “meaningful” or “consequential” by immigration analysts, with notable advances for India and some Rest of World (ROW) categories. China often sees less or no movement.
- EB-1 (Priority Workers):
- All Chargeability Areas / Mexico / Philippines: Current
- China and India: Advance to March 1, 2023 (or similar; some sources cite 1-month advance, others note December 1, 2023 in Dates for Filing context)
- EB-2 (Advanced Degrees/Exceptional Ability):
- All Chargeability Areas / Mexico / Philippines: Advance to October 15, 2024 (or Current in some filing contexts)
- China: No movement (around September 1, 2021)
- India: Advance to September 15, 2013 (2-month advance in Final Action; larger jumps reported in Dates for Filing, e.g., up to 11 months or 335 days in some analyses)
- EB-3 (Skilled Workers/Professionals/Other Workers):
- All Chargeability Areas / Mexico / Philippines: Advance (e.g., to October 1, 2023 or January 15, 2024 in some reports)
- China: Little/no movement (around May 1, 2021 or January 1, 2022)
- India: No relief (around November 15, 2013 or August 15, 2014)
- Philippines: Advance (e.g., to August 1, 2023)
- EB-4 (Special Immigrants, e.g., Religious Workers): Notable advances reported (nearly 2 years in some cases across countries).
- EB-5 (Investors): Movement mentioned but details vary; some categories see progress.
Dates for Filing often show more aggressive advances (e.g., EB-2 ROW becoming Current for filing, major surges for India in EB-2), enabling more people to file I-485 now and potentially get EAD/AP benefits sooner.
Other Notes
- Diversity Visa (DV-2026): Numbers available for qualified applicants; program year ends September 30, 2026.
- Extensions/availability noted for certain categories like Employment Fourth Preference Religious Workers (SR) and Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for U.S. government employees.
- Analysts highlight this as one of the stronger bulletins recently, possibly due to demand management, spillover, or policy factors reducing backlogs for non-impacted countries.
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 March 2026
Source of Information:
- Dept. of State (travel.state.gov), Website: Visa Bulletin
- Dept. of State (travel.state.gov), 2/4/26, Department of State Publication 9514: Visa Bulletin For March 2026
Attorney Kellie Lego, 2026 Super Lawyer
MVP Law Group social media:
Blog: www.h1bvisalawyerblog.com
Website: www.mvplawgroup.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mvplawgroup
Twitter: www.twitter.com/mvplawgroup