F3

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 159.7 months: Mexico sits that far behind All areas, China and India, which share the front of it, with 1 country 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, China and India: 60.4 days of movement in an average month, standing still in 54 percent of them. The longest unchanged run was 5 months on 08SEP11, October 2025 to March 2026. Dates for Filing currently sits 0.3 months ahead of Final Action Dates.
• Mexico: 34.6 days of movement in an average month, standing still in 60 percent of them. The longest unchanged run was 7 months on 01MAY01, November 2025 to June 2026. Dates for Filing currently sits 0.5 months ahead of Final Action Dates.
• Philippines: 38.7 days of movement in an average month, standing still in 57 percent of them. The longest unchanged run was 6 months on 08JUN02, October 2023 to April 2024. Dates for Filing currently sits 5.5 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 17 days in an average month and the July-to-September quarter advanced 81.2 days.

Here the record runs the other way: the closing quarter moved more than the opening one, so a generous October and a flat August are not a rhythm this category has shown. Read a single month against this category’s own figures rather than the calendar’s reputation.

Backward steps on record

No cut-off in this category has moved backwards in any of the 36 issues published here.

Questions this page answers

Why does F3 take so long?

Between October 2023 and September 2026, 35 months of published bulletins, the all-areas cut-off moved 69.4 months, a pace of 1.98 months of queue for every month of real time. Over the most recent 12 months, to September 2026, it moved 38.7 months, a pace of 3.23. The all-areas cut-off never moved backwards over that period. The bulletin does not publish a reason for the pace, and this site does not infer one.

Has F3 ever moved backwards?

Not once in the 36 issues published here. That is a fact about this category rather than a rule: a cut-off retrogresses when demand exceeds what is left of the annual limit, and that can happen to any of them.

Which country waits longest in F3?

Mexico, 159.7 months behind All areas, China and India, which share the front of this category on the Final Action Dates chart in September 2026, with 1 country 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.