Visa Bulletin, September 2025

What this issue did

The state of this issue

Counted inside this issue alone, before it is compared with anything published before it.

• Final Action Dates: 44 of 75 country columns carry a cut-off, 21 are current and 10 have no numbers at all. The furthest-back cut-off is 01FEB01, in F3 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 134.8 months, in F1: Mexico against All areas, China and India, with 1 country somewhere between the two. Current in every column: EB-5 Rural, EB-5 High Unemployment and EB-5 Infrastructure. Current in 6 country columns of EB-1 and EB-5 Unreserved, though not in their other columns. No numbers at all in any column of EB-4 and EB-4 Religious Workers.
• Dates for Filing: 54 of 75 country columns carry a cut-off and 21 are current; every column has numbers. The furthest-back cut-off is 30APR01, in F4 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 135 months, in F1: Mexico against All areas, China and India, with 1 country somewhere between the two. Current in every column: EB-5 Rural, EB-5 High Unemployment and EB-5 Infrastructure. Current in 6 country columns of EB-1 and EB-5 Unreserved, though not in their other columns.

How far the filing chart runs ahead

Of the 44 country columns where both charts carry a date in this issue, Dates for Filing runs ahead of Final Action Dates in 44 of them. The widest lead is 40 months, in F2A for Mexico. The middle lead is 8 months and the narrowest 14 days.

Where this issue sits in the archive

This is issue 24 of 36 published here, in a record running from October 2023 to September 2026.

Of the 75 country columns on the Final Action Dates chart, a cut-off appears both here and in September 2026, the newest issue published here, in 39 of them. Of those: 38 later in September 2026 and 1 on the identical date, with none earlier. The middle difference across them is 21.7 months, and the largest is 47.7 months, in F2A for All areas, China, India and Philippines. That compares two ends and nothing in between: it says where these columns stand in each of the two issues, not that the queue only ever moved one way. A column can finish later than it began and still have fallen back on the way, and the category pages count the backward steps an endpoint comparison cannot see.

Of the 75 country columns on the Final Action Dates chart in this issue, 3 advanced, 0 moved backwards and 72 stood still. On the Dates for Filing chart, 6 advanced and 0 moved backwards.

Everything below is measured against August 2025, the issue immediately before this one.

The fiscal year ends with this issue (FY2025). Across the 3 September issues published here, a country column on the Final Action Dates chart moved 48.7 days forward on average, against 99.4 days forward across the 2 October issues.

The largest advances

• F3 for Philippines advanced 5 months, from 01DEC03 to 01MAY04. Over the three issues to September 2025 it advanced 7.3 months, and over the twelve it advanced 19.7 months.
• F2B for Mexico advanced 3 months, from 01JAN07 to 01APR07. Over the three issues to September 2025 it advanced 14.9 months, and over the twelve it advanced 32.5 months.
• F2B for Philippines advanced 0.5 months, from 15APR12 to 01MAY12. Over the three issues to September 2025 it advanced 2.7 months, and over the twelve it advanced 6.3 months.

Where the cut-off fell back

No cut-off on the Final Action Dates chart moved backwards in this issue.

By country of chargeability

• All areas: none of the 15 country columns advanced.
• China: none of the 15 country columns advanced.
• India: none of the 15 country columns advanced.
• Mexico: 1 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 90 days.
• Philippines: 2 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 152 days.

Which chart applies for filing

Consular cases are approved against Final Action Dates. Which chart USCIS accepted for adjustment of status that month is published separately by USCIS and has not been transcribed here. How USCIS chooses the filing chart.

Every figure in this section is arithmetic on the transcribed tables: differences between two issues, runs of unchanged months, spreads between two countries in the same issue. The bulletin publishes no reasons, and none are supplied here.