EB-3 Other Workers
Unskilled labour, under two years of training
The queue is moving slower than the calendar
Over the 12 months to September 2026, the all-areas cut-off advanced 8.8 months. That is 0.73 months of queue per month of real time. Anyone who joined this queue during that year ended it further from the front than they started.
Across the whole record here, October 2023 to September 2026, the cut-off moved 20 months in 35. Past pace is a record of what happened, not a schedule.
Movement, all areas
Final Action Dates across the 36 published months.
By country of chargeability
| Area | Final Action Dates | Dates for Filing | Since August | Pace, 12mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All chargeability areas except those listed | 01 Apr 2022 | 01 Aug 2022 | no move | 0.73x |
| China, mainland born | 01 May 2019 | 01 Oct 2019 | no move | 2x |
| India | 01 Jan 2014 | 15 Jan 2015 | no move | 0.62x |
| Mexico | 01 Apr 2022 | 01 Aug 2022 | no move | 0.73x |
| Philippines | 01 Dec 2021 | 01 Aug 2022 | no move | 0.4x |
Questions this page answers
- Why does EB-3 Other Workers take so long?
- Between October 2023 and September 2026, 35 months of published bulletins, the all-areas cut-off moved 20 months, a pace of 0.57 months of queue for every month of real time. Over the most recent 12 months, to September 2026, it moved 8.8 months, a pace of 0.73. The cut-off moved backwards in 1 of those months, so neither figure describes a steady advance. The bulletin does not publish a reason for the pace, and this site does not infer one.
- Does a cut-off ever move backwards?
- Yes. A cut-off can retrogress when demand for a category exceeds what remains of the annual limit. Any month where that happened is marked on the table below.
- When will a particular priority date be reached?
- That cannot be answered from the bulletin. Past pace is a record of what happened, not a schedule, and this site publishes no prediction.
Current values from the September 2026 bulletin, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. Movement computed across 36 published months, 12 for the headline pace.