EB-5 Unreserved
Investors outside the set-aside pools
The category is current
The all-areas column has been current in every issue of the 12 months to September 2026. There is no cut-off, so there is no queue to measure.
It has been current in every one of the 36 issues published here, October 2023 to September 2026.
Past pace is a record of what happened, not a schedule.
Movement, all areas
Final Action Dates across the 36 published months.
The all-areas column has fewer than two dated months in the published range, so there is no movement to plot: it was current or unavailable rather than sitting on a cut-off. Any country column that does carry a cut-off is shown in the table below.
By country of chargeability
| Area | Final Action Dates | Dates for Filing | Since August | Pace, 12mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All chargeability areas except those listed | C (current, no wait) | C (current, no wait) | still current | not measurable |
| China, mainland born | 01 Dec 2016 | 01 Mar 2017 | no move | 0.98x |
| India | U (unavailable, no numbers being issued) | 01 May 2024 | still unavailable | 3.28x in 9 mo |
| Mexico | C (current, no wait) | C (current, no wait) | still current | not measurable |
| Philippines | C (current, no wait) | C (current, no wait) | still current | not measurable |
What the record shows
Measured across the 36 issues published here, for this category alone.
How far apart the countries are
In September 2026 only one country in this category carries a dated cut-off, so there is no spread to measure. The rest are either current, with no cut-off at all, or unavailable.
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.
- China: 63.9 days of movement in an average month, standing still in 71 percent of them. The longest unchanged run was 7 months on 15DEC15, February 2024 to September 2024. Dates for Filing currently sits 3 months ahead of Final Action Dates.
- India: 99.5 days of movement in an average month, standing still in 75 percent of them. The longest unchanged run was 8 months on 01DEC20, January 2024 to September 2024. No numbers at all for 3 issues, July 2026 to September 2026.
The annual reset
The bulletin runs on a fiscal year beginning 1 October. Pooling every country across the 31 comparisons that fall in those two quarters, the October-to-December quarter advanced 88.9 days in an average month and the July-to-September quarter advanced 63.5 days.
The reset is measurable here, and it runs the way the calendar’s reputation suggests: a generous October and a flat August are the ordinary rhythm of this category’s year rather than news. That is the shape to hold in mind before reading anything into a single month.
Backward steps on record
- April 2025: China fell back 29.7 months, from 15JUL16 to 22JAN14.
- April 2025: India fell back 26 months, from 01JAN22 to 01NOV19.
- May 2025: India fell back 6 months, from 01NOV19 to 01MAY19.
Questions this page answers
- Is EB-5 Unreserved current?
- Yes, for the all-areas column: no cut-off has been published for it in any of the 36 issues here, October 2023 to September 2026. A cut-off does apply to China in September 2026.
- Has EB-5 Unreserved ever moved backwards?
- Yes. Across the 36 issues published here the cut-off fell back in 2 of them, across 2 country columns, and 3 backward steps in all. The largest was 29.7 months, for China, in April 2025. 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-5 Unreserved?
- Nothing to compare in September 2026. Only one country in this category carries a dated cut-off; the rest are either current, with no cut-off at all, or unavailable.
- 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.
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.