June 2026 Visa Bulletin: A Hold Bulletin Before the FY-End Push

Update, November 7, 2026: This article covers the June 2026 bulletin and is kept as a record. It is not the latest bulletin. In the November 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-5 unreserved final action dates are Dec 1, 2016 for China and December 1, 2023 for India, and all other countries are Current. Dates for Filing are March 1, 2021 for China and May 1, 2024 for India. All three set-asides remain Current. India unreserved was Unavailable in the July, August and September 2026 bulletins.

The June 2026 Visa Bulletin moves nothing for EB-5.

Both retrogressed countries hold exactly where they sat in May. China stays at September 22, 2016 for the unreserved final action date. India stays at May 1, 2022, which is now the sixth consecutive month at that exact cutoff. Filing Dates also hold: China at March 1, 2017, India at May 1, 2024. The reserved categories (Rural, High Unemployment Area, and Infrastructure) remain Current for every chargeability area, as they have been since the categories were established. If you only read the table, the story is "no change." If you read Section H, the story is different.

What the table actually says#

The Department of State published the June 2026 bulletin in mid-May. Here is the full EB-5 picture as it appears in visa_bulletin_normalized for the bulletin month of 2026-06.

Final Action Dates (Chart A):

• China (mainland born) Unreserved: September 22, 2016
• India Unreserved: May 1, 2022
• All other chargeability areas Unreserved: Current
• Rural (20% set aside): Current for all
• High Unemployment Area (10% set aside): Current for all
• Infrastructure (2% set aside): Current for all

Filing Dates (Chart B):

• China Unreserved: March 1, 2017
• India Unreserved: May 1, 2024
• All other Unreserved: Current
• Set-aside categories: Current for all

Source: U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for June 2026. Blue trust tier.

China: a pause after two months of motion#

China advanced 17 days in the April bulletin (August 15, 2016 to September 1, 2016) and another 21 days in May (to September 22, 2016). June paused. That fits the historical pattern: the Visa Office pulls a date forward in two or three consecutive bulletins, then holds for a month to absorb the resulting demand before resuming. Investors expecting movement of two to four weeks every single month through the summer are extrapolating off a small sample. Plan around at least one or two flat months between advances.

The Filing Date is the more interesting line on the China row. It jumped from October 1, 2016 (April bulletin) to March 1, 2017 (May bulletin), a five-month advance in a single cycle, and now holds there in June. That Filing Date governs whether National Visa Center beneficiaries can file Form I-485 or DS-260 paperwork. A flat Filing Date in June means no new China consular cases become documentarily-qualified this month, but the existing inventory has more headroom now that the Filing Date sits five months ahead of the Final Action Date.

If you are a China-born I-526E petitioner with an approved petition and a priority date in late 2016, the practical question is not whether June moved. It is whether the September 22, 2016 FAD reaches your priority date in July, August, or September. At the current pace, late 2016 priority dates clear by August.

India: six months at the same number#

India's unreserved Final Action Date has been May 1, 2022 across the January, February, March, April, May, and June 2026 bulletins. Six bulletins. Same number. That is not a normal cadence. It is the Visa Office deliberately holding the line on India while it figures out the demand math against the 7% per-country cap.

The Section H warning at the back of the June bulletin spells this out. The Department of State telegraphs that India unreserved could retrogress in July 2026, or be declared "unavailable" for the month outright. "Unavailable" is the stronger term. It means no India unreserved visa numbers will be issued for that month at all, not even for cases already documentarily-qualified at the consulate. Retrogression is the softer version: the date moves backward, and only beneficiaries with priority dates before the new cutoff can move forward.

Either outcome is operationally disruptive. Cases that were scheduled for interview in July could be held. Adjustment of Status filings already pending at USCIS would sit longer. Documentarily-qualified consular cases lose their visa allocation. None of this is hypothetical anymore; it is the explicit forward-looking statement in the official bulletin text.

The set-asides are not a gift, they are a structure#

Rural, HUA, and Infrastructure remain Current for every country. That includes China and India. This is not the Visa Office being generous. It is the Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 doing its job: 32% of the EB-5 allocation (20% Rural + 10% HUA + 2% Infrastructure) is reserved for those project types, and the demand pool inside each set-aside is small enough that the per-country cap math has not yet bound. Until cumulative I-526E filings inside a set-aside push a single country past 7% of that pool, the cutoff stays Current.

Some attorneys talk about set-aside Current as if it might end any month. It might, eventually. But it would take a meaningful sustained filing spike in one country and one set-aside category at the same time, and quarterly USCIS data does not yet show that pressure for any combination.

The EB-1/EB-2 India canary#

The same June bulletin retrogressed EB-2 India sharply and EB-1 India moderately. EB-5 investors should treat that as a leading indicator, not unrelated trivia. The same demand engine driving EB-1 and EB-2 India retrogression (a large pool of in-country adjustment filings against a fixed per-country share) is what would force EB-5 India unreserved retrogression. When the Visa Office can no longer cushion EB-1 and EB-2, EB-5 is next in line for the same treatment.

What a hold bulletin means for filing decisions#

Update, November 7, 2026: The September 30, 2026 grandfathering date has passed. Petitions filed on or before that date are protected under INA 203(b)(5)(S) if the Regional Center Program lapses. Petitions filed after it do not have that protection. Regional center authorization runs through September 30, 2027.

Three points from the June bulletin for attorneys and investors.

First, the hold had no bearing on whether an I-526E was timely. When this bulletin came out, the main filing question was the September 30, 2026 grandfathering date, which has now passed.

Second, India-born investors with priority dates after May 1, 2022 should expect that the July bulletin may make their situation worse, not better. If you are still in the diligence phase and your project options include rural or HUA designations, the math on category selection just got more lopsided.

Third, China-born investors with priority dates between September 23, 2016 and roughly mid-2017 should not assume the July bulletin will resume the recent advance pace. Plan around two scenarios: either the September 22 FAD holds again, or it advances by another 14 to 28 days. The probability of a 38-day advance in a single month is low when the Visa Office is also managing India retrogression risk in the same cycle.

FAQ: June 2026 Visa Bulletin#

Q: Did anything move in the June 2026 bulletin for EB-5?

A: No. China and India both held their Final Action Dates and their Filing Dates from May 2026. The reserved categories (Rural, HUA, Infrastructure) remain Current for all chargeability areas, which is the same status they have held since the categories were activated. If you are tracking week-over-week movement, the June bulletin contributes zero days. The story for June is in the forward-looking text, not the dates.

Q: How does a hold bulletin affect my I-526E priority date?

A: A flat Final Action Date for one month means no new visa numbers became available to your country and category that month. Your priority date does not change. If your priority date is already before the cutoff, you remain eligible for visa allocation. If your priority date is after the cutoff, you continue to wait. The hold only affects the rate at which the cutoff approaches your priority date, not your priority date itself.

Q: Will India EB-5 unreserved actually retrogress in July 2026?

A: The Department of State has explicitly warned in the June bulletin's Section H that retrogression or unavailability is possible. They do not issue that warning casually. Based on the pattern with EB-1 India and EB-2 India earlier in this fiscal year, the probability of either retrogression or an "unavailable" designation for India unreserved in July is meaningful, not remote. The July 2026 bulletin will publish in early-to-mid June 2026. Until then, attorneys should counsel India-born clients to plan around both outcomes.

Q: Are the set-aside categories at risk of losing Current status?

A: Not in the short term. The Reform and Integrity Act dedicates 32% of the annual EB-5 allocation to reserved categories, and demand inside each set-aside has not yet pressed the per-country 7% cap. For a set-aside category to lose Current status for any single country, that country's pending I-526E inventory inside that category would need to exceed 7% of the relevant allocation, and current USCIS quarterly statistics do not show that crossing for any combination. Watch the Q4 FY2025 and Q1 FY2026 statistical releases for the earliest signal.

Q: Should I file my I-526E this month if the bulletin did not move?

A: Bulletin movement does not decide whether to file. A petition's priority date is set when USCIS receives it, and month-to-month movement only changes how fast the cutoff approaches it. The September 30, 2026 grandfathering date has passed, so a regional center petition filed now does not have statutory lapse protection if the program's authorization ends after September 30, 2027. Petitions filed on or before September 30, 2026 keep that protection. Talk to counsel about timing for your case.

Q: What is the difference between Final Action Date and Filing Date and which one matters more?

A: The Final Action Date governs whether a visa can actually be issued to your case. The Filing Date governs whether USCIS or the National Visa Center will accept an Adjustment of Status (Form I-485) or consular processing paperwork from your case. Each month, USCIS publishes which chart Adjustment of Status filers should use. For June 2026 it required the Final Action Dates chart for employment-based cases. For November 2026 it directed employment-based filers to the Dates for Filing chart. For consular processing, the FAD controls the visa interview scheduling. If you are tracking when you can submit paperwork, the Filing Date is your line. If you are tracking when you can actually get the visa, the FAD is your line.

Methodology#

Final Action Dates, Filing Dates, and category statuses cited above come from the U.S. Department of State's June 2026 Visa Bulletin and are stored in our visa_bulletin_normalized table after ingestion through the daily /api/cron/visa-bulletin sync. Blue trust tier. Historical China and India movement figures referenced for the "hold pattern" framing are computed from src/lib/data/visa-bulletin-history.ts, which has Blue-tier State Department source coverage from January 2020 through May 2026.

The Section H reference is paraphrased from the published bulletin text. The verbatim language is available on the Department of State website at travel.state.gov.

Filing strategy guidance reflects editorial analysis of the bulletin text, the latest quarterly USCIS statistics (FY2026 Q3), and the September 30, 2026 grandfathering deadline. That analysis is Orange trust tier and is not legal advice. Investors should retain immigration counsel for filing decisions.

What to read next#

• July 2026 Visa Bulletin Predictions: the forward-looking forecast based on the Section H warning and the FY-end allocation pattern.
• How to Read the EB-5 Visa Bulletin: walkthrough of Chart A, Chart B, and the Section H/E text.
• India EB-5 Backlog Analysis: country-specific data on filing volume, approval rates, and projected wait times.

Need to track movement in real time? Use the place-in-line tool to see where your priority date sits against the live bulletin and get alerts when the FAD reaches your case.