EB-1 held completely still in September — and India was warned it may close

EB-1 did not move at all this month. Every cell is identical to August 2026. Final Action Dates are Current for all chargeability areas except those listed, Mexico and the Philippines. China-mainland holds at 1 July 2023 on the Final Action Dates chart. India holds at 15 October 2022 on the Final Action Dates chart.

For most applicants that is the whole story, and it is good news. If you were not born in China-mainland or India, EB-1 is Current, and an approved I-140 can be followed straight away by an adjustment of status filing or consular processing.

For applicants chargeable to India there is a warning in the bulletin worth reading twice. The State Department states: “High demand and number use by aliens chargeable to India in the EB-1 visa category may necessitate making the category unavailable in the coming weeks if India's pro-rated limit in the EB-1 category is reached before the fiscal year ends. This situation will be continually monitored, and any necessary adjustments will be made accordingly.” Unavailable is not the same as retrogression. It means no visa numbers at all — no adjustment approvals, no consular issuance — until the next fiscal year allocation opens on 1 October.

India has now been frozen at 15 October 2022 for four consecutive bulletins.

There is a second trap for applicants chargeable to India. The Dates for Filing chart reads 1 December 2023, well ahead of the Final Action Date of 15 October 2022. Which chart you may actually use is decided by USCIS, not the State Department. If USCIS designates the Final Action Dates chart, an applicant with a priority date between those two points cannot file an I-485, whatever the filing chart appears to offer. Check the USCIS chart page before assuming.

The underlying arithmetic matters: the worldwide employment-based limit is split by a per-country cap of seven per cent, and that cap binds long before the worldwide limit does. It is why two countries can be years behind while everyone else is Current.

This September bulletin is historical. Consult the current Department of State Visa Bulletin and the current USCIS filing-chart page before acting.

Every claim above is drawn from the documents listed underneath it. Treat any figure you see elsewhere that does not trace to a published government release as unverified.