Visa Bulletin, October 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: 49 of 75 country columns carry a cut-off, 21 are current and 5 have no numbers at all. The furthest-back cut-off is 08APR01, in F4 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 131.6 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 Religious Workers.
• Dates for Filing: 49 of 75 country columns carry a cut-off, 21 are current and 5 have no numbers at all. The furthest-back cut-off is 30APR01, in F4 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 133.2 months, in F3: 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 Religious Workers.

How far the filing chart runs ahead

Of the 49 country columns where both charts carry a date in this issue, Dates for Filing runs ahead of Final Action Dates in 49 of them. The widest lead is 31.7 months, in F2A for Mexico. The middle lead is 9.8 months and the narrowest 22 days.

Where this issue sits in the archive

This is issue 25 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 44 of them. Of those: 42 later in September 2026 and 2 on the identical date, with none earlier. The middle difference across them is 25.3 months, and the largest is 45.4 months, in F4 for All areas and China. 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, 39 advanced, 0 moved backwards and 31 stood still. On the Dates for Filing chart, 33 advanced and 1 moved backwards. The remaining 5 country columns changed between a date, current and unavailable rather than moving.

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

The fiscal year begins with this issue (FY2026): the annual limits reset on 1 October. Across the 2 October issues published here, a country column on the Final Action Dates chart moved 99.4 days forward on average, against 48.7 days forward across the 3 September issues.

The largest advances

• F2A for All areas, China, India and Philippines advanced 17 months, from 01SEP22 to 01FEB24. Over the three issues to October 2025 it advanced 17 months, and over the twelve it advanced 26.3 months.
• EB-5 Unreserved for India advanced 14.6 months, from 15NOV19 to 01FEB21. Over the three issues to October 2025 it advanced 21.1 months, and over the twelve it fell back 11 months. Backward steps inside that twelve-month window: 2.
• F2A for Mexico advanced 12 months, from 01FEB22 to 01FEB23. Over the three issues to October 2025 it advanced 12 months, and over the twelve it advanced 22.8 months.
• F2B for Mexico advanced 8.5 months, from 01APR07 to 15DEC07. Over the three issues to October 2025 it advanced 11.4 months, and over the twelve it advanced 35 months.
• EB-3 Other Workers for China advanced 7 months, from 01MAY17 to 01DEC17. Over the three issues to October 2025 it advanced 7 months, and over the twelve it advanced 11 months.
• F1 for Mexico advanced 7 months, from 22APR05 to 22NOV05. Over the three issues to October 2025 it advanced 7 months, and over the twelve it advanced 34.7 months.

Where the cut-off fell back

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

Categories that opened or closed

• EB-4 reopened for All areas, China, India, Mexico and Philippines after a stretch with no numbers available at all.

By country of chargeability

• All areas: 7 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 38 days.
• China: 9 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 90 days.
• India: 8 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 92 days.
• Mexico: 7 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 91 days.
• Philippines: 8 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 144 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.