The US State Department recently released the February 2026 Visa Bulletin. The Visa bulletin is released every month and contains information for people who wish to immigrate to the USA, specifically on how long it is expected that it will take for them to apply for their Green Card.
A Green Card is an official document that gives immigrants the opportunity to legally reside permanently in the United States of America (USA).
The monthly issuance of the Visa bulletin represents the official period in which immigrant visa applicants under family-sponsored and employment-based preference categories will receive the ability to submit their application for adjustment of status or have their application finalised.
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Family-sponsored preference category
There was little movement forward in the final action dates for February in the family-sponsored preference categories for most chargeability areas.
For instance, the F1 category (unmarried sons and daughters of US citizens) remains at 08NOV16 for all areas of chargeability except for Mexico and the Philippines, which continue to have earlier cut-off dates. The F2A (spouse and children of permanent residents) remains at 01FEB24 across most areas of chargeability.
Likewise, the F2B, F3 and F4, also show little to no change in movement forward because of the continued pressure from backlogs created by annual limits and per country caps.
Employment‑based (EB) preference cases
As for preference cases based on employment, there has been limited advancement in the bulletin. The EB-1 category continues to be current for all chargeability areas with the exception of China and India, both of which continue at 01FEB23.
The EB-2 category has continued to have cut-off dates that are in line with existing cut-off dates for China and India. With regard to the final action dates for the EB-3 category, there has been small amounts of advancement across all chargeability areas except for India and China, which continue to have earlier priority dates.
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For EB-4, EB-5 and for other workers, there has been minimal to no advancement. These patterns mean that many people applying for green cards from countries with high demand, such as India, have not advanced in their respective queues this month, while some other people's applications for green cards have experienced small amounts of progress.
Dates for filing immigrant visa applications
Additionally, the bulletin contains the most updated dates for when candidates will be able to file immigrant visa applications. Most of the categories continue to show minimal change or very insignificant change. The stagnation of many categories is a direct reflection of the effect of the annual numerical limitations imposed by law on green cards for applicants from over-subscribed countries.
