FY2026 to FY2027 Visa Allocation Transition: What October 2026 Brings

The Department of State's fiscal year ends September 30. The October bulletin is where the Visa Office resets annual allocations and recalibrates cutoffs against the new year's quota. For EB-5 investors, the October 2026 bulletin is the most consequential bulletin between now and the grandfathering deadline. It is the most likely month for India unreserved to recover from any July or August retrogression. It is also when the FY2027 quota becomes available for China unreserved advancement, and when set-aside categories face their first cap-binding pressure if FY2026 filings exhausted the per-country pools. This article walks through how October bulletins historically behave, what the FY2027 reset specifically means for EB-5, and how investors should plan around the transition. Gray trust tier on the projections. ## Why October matters: the fiscal year arithmetic The annual EB-5 visa allocation under INA 203(b)(5) is approximately 10,000 visas per fiscal year, calculated as 7.1 percent...