EB-3

What the record shows

Measured across the 36 issues published here, for this category alone.

How far apart the countries are

In September 2026 the widest gap inside this category is 128 months: India sits that far behind All areas and Mexico, which share the front of it, with 2 countries somewhere between the two. Every country draws on the same annual limit; the difference is demand from each country measured against the per-country cap.

How steady the movement is

The mean step is the average size of one month of movement, in either direction. A cut-off that averages sixty days a month but stands still half the time behaves nothing like one that advances thirty days every month, and the two figures together say which this is.

• All areas and Mexico: 69.9 days of movement in an average month, standing still in 49 percent of them. The longest unchanged run was 4 months on 01APR23, July 2025 to November 2025.
• China: 29.6 days of movement in an average month, standing still in 54 percent of them. The longest unchanged run was 8 months on 01SEP20, January 2024 to September 2024. Dates for Filing currently sits 0.2 months ahead of Final Action Dates.
• India: 17.4 days of movement in an average month, standing still in 43 percent of them. The longest unchanged run was 4 months on 15NOV13, January 2026 to May 2026. Dates for Filing currently sits 12.5 months ahead of Final Action Dates.
• Philippines: 58.6 days of movement in an average month, standing still in 57 percent of them. The longest unchanged run was 6 months on 01AUG23, March 2026 to September 2026. Dates for Filing currently sits 5 months ahead of Final Action Dates.

The annual reset

The bulletin runs on a fiscal year beginning 1 October. Pooling every country across the 85 comparisons that fall in those two quarters, the October-to-December quarter advanced 59.1 days in an average month and the July-to-September quarter fell back 35.5 days.

Here the closing quarter averaged a backward step: on this record the end of the fiscal year is when ground was given back, not merely when movement slowed.

Backward steps on record

• September 2024: All areas, Mexico and Philippines fell back 12 months, from 01DEC21 to 01DEC20.
• July 2024: All areas, Mexico and Philippines fell back 11.7 months, from 22NOV22 to 01DEC21.
• October 2024: China fell back 5 months, from 01SEP20 to 01APR20.

Questions this page answers

Why does EB-3 take so long?

Between October 2023 and September 2026, 35 months of published bulletins, the all-areas cut-off moved 33 months, a pace of 0.94 months of queue for every month of real time. Over the most recent 12 months, to September 2026, it moved 17.1 months, a pace of 1.43. The all-areas cut-off moved backwards in 2 of those 36 issues, so neither figure describes a steady advance. The bulletin does not publish a reason for the pace, and this site does not infer one.

Has EB-3 ever moved backwards?

Yes. Across the 36 issues published here the cut-off fell back in 3 of them, across 4 country columns, and 7 backward steps in all. The largest was 12 months, for All areas, Mexico and Philippines, in September 2024. A cut-off retrogresses when demand for a category exceeds what remains of its annual limit, and the numbers already promised have to be taken back.

Which country waits longest in EB-3?

India, 128 months behind All areas and Mexico, which share the front of this category on the Final Action Dates chart in September 2026, with 2 countries somewhere between the two. Every country draws on the same annual limit; the per-country cap is what separates them.

When will a particular priority date be reached?

The bulletin does not answer that, and neither does this site on its own authority. Past pace is a record of what happened, not a schedule. The history page offers a projection driven by a pace you choose, alongside the measured error of that method, which on this data misses by a median of several months even one year out.