Visa Bulletin, May 2026

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: 51 of 75 country columns carry a cut-off and 24 are current; every column has numbers. The furthest-back cut-off is 08APR01, in F4 for Mexico. The widest gap between two countries inside one category is 129.5 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 9 country columns of EB-1, EB-2 and EB-5 Unreserved, though not in their other columns.
• Dates for Filing: 44 of 75 country columns carry a cut-off and 31 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 136.8 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, EB-5 Infrastructure and F2A. Current in 11 country columns of EB-1, EB-2, EB-3 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 24 months, in EB-5 Unreserved for India. The middle lead is 7.4 months and the narrowest 22 days.

Where this issue sits in the archive

This is issue 32 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 49 of them. Of those: 42 later in September 2026, 1 earlier, and 6 on the identical date. The middle difference across them is 5 months, and the largest is 37.2 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, 19 advanced, 0 moved backwards and 56 stood still. On the Dates for Filing chart, 15 advanced and 0 moved backwards.

Everything below is measured against April 2026, the issue immediately before this one.

The largest advances

• F2A for All areas, China, India and Philippines advanced 6 months, from 01FEB24 to 01AUG24. Over the three issues to May 2026 it advanced 6 months, and over the twelve it advanced 31 months.
• F1 for Mexico advanced 5.9 months, from 15FEB07 to 15AUG07. Over the three issues to May 2026 it advanced 7.8 months, and over the twelve it advanced 27.8 months.
• F2A for Mexico advanced 5.9 months, from 01FEB23 to 01AUG23. Over the three issues to May 2026 it advanced 5.9 months, and over the twelve it advanced 26.5 months.
• F4 for Philippines advanced 5.4 months, from 01FEB07 to 15JUL07. Over the three issues to May 2026 it advanced 11.8 months, and over the twelve it advanced 25.4 months.
• F3 for Philippines advanced 4.7 months, from 01JUL05 to 22NOV05. Over the three issues to May 2026 it advanced 8.7 months, and over the twelve it advanced 26 months.
• F1 for All areas, China and India advanced 4 months, from 01MAY17 to 01SEP17. Over the three issues to May 2026 it advanced 9.8 months, and over the twelve it advanced 17.6 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: 5 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 99 days.
• China: 5 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 99 days.
• India: 3 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 123 days.
• Mexico: 3 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 181 days.
• Philippines: 3 of 15 country columns advanced, median advance 164 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.