November 2026 Visa Bulletin: EB-5 Reserved Categories Remain Current as Other Green Card Dates Advance

The November 2026 Visa Bulletin from the USCIS keeps all three EB-5 reserved categories current for every country, while leaving the unreserved cutoff dates for China and India unchanged.

For EB-5 investors, November brings continuity in visa availability. Eligible applicants in the rural, high-unemployment, and infrastructure categories continue to face no published priority-date cutoff. Applicants in China’s and India’s unreserved categories remain subject to separate filing and final action dates.

Elsewhere, the bulletin advances several employment-based and family-sponsored categories. Those changes reinforce an important point: visa availability must be evaluated by category, country of chargeability, and the specific chart that applies.

EB-5: No movement from October

The November EB-5 dates are:

Source: November 2026 Visa Bulletin, employment-based charts, pages 4–6. All EB-5 entries are unchanged from the October bulletin.

The distinction between reserved and unreserved categories remains consequential. An applicant must qualify for the category being used; the existence of a current reserved category does not automatically make that category available to someone with an unreserved case.

Filing eligibility and approval eligibility are different

The bulletin contains two charts with different purposes.

Final Action Dates determine whether an immigrant visa number may be available for final approval. When a cutoff appears, the applicant’s priority date must be earlier than that date.

Dates for Filing govern when applicants may begin certain application steps. For adjustment of status within the United States, USCIS separately determines whether applicants may use this chart.  Applicants should consult the USCIS filing-chart page when preparing a filing.

Consider an otherwise eligible India-chargeable EB-5 unreserved applicant with a February 1, 2024 priority date. That date is earlier than the May 1, 2024 filing cutoff, but later than the December 1, 2023 final action cutoff. The applicant could meet the priority-date requirement to file under the filing chart while remaining ineligible for final approval based on November’s final action date.

The same distinction matters for China, where the gap between the two EB-5 unreserved dates is substantial.

A filing opportunity can be valuable, but it should not be presented as an immediately available green card.

What “current” means for reserved EB-5 applicants

A “C” designation means there is no priority-date cutoff for that category and chargeability area in the applicable chart.

For reserved EB-5 applicants, November therefore preserves access to visa numbers for qualified cases without a published date restriction. Approval still depends on meeting all substantive requirements and completing adjudication.

Current status does not establish a processing deadline. It also does not promise that the category will remain current in future months.

This matters when reading the bulletin alongside the newly discussed I-485 inventory data. The inventory measures pending applications; the bulletin controls visa-number availability for a particular month. They answer different questions.

A growing inventory can coexist with a current category. The November bulletin does not quantify the entire EB-5 pipeline, identify how many pending cases are ready for approval, or forecast when reserved-category cutoff dates might become necessary.

Its finding is narrower and useful: November introduces no EB-5 reserved-category cutoff.

Broader employment-based movement is selective

Several employment-based Final Action Dates advance compared with October:

Meanwhile, EB-1 India, EB-2 China and India, and EB-4 retain their October Final Action Dates. Employment-based filing dates are largely unchanged; the Other Workers filing date advances from June 1 to July 1, 2022 for the all-other-areas column and Mexico.

These comparisons come from the October bulletin and November’s attached tables.

For families evaluating alternative immigration pathways, these differences deserve individual analysis. Movement in one category does not predict movement in another, and a current EB-5 category alone does not establish that EB-5 will produce the fastest overall outcome.

Family-sponsored categories show larger advances

November also brings one-year advances in both Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing for F1, F2B, and F3 in the all-other-areas, China, and India columns, and for F4 in the all-other-areas and China columns.

F2A Final Action Dates advance one month, while its filing chart remains current for every country. Mexico and the Philippines retain distinct dates in several family categories.

These changes may expand eligibility for affected families, but calendar movement in a cutoff date is not an equivalent reduction in processing time.

What investors should do with November’s information

For EB-5 investors, the bulletin supports a practical review of four items:

• Confirm the category and country of chargeability. Reserved and unreserved cases can face very different availability conditions.
• Check the correct chart. Filing eligibility and final approval eligibility are separate determinations.
• Use the exact priority date. Where a cutoff applies, the priority date must be earlier than the listed date.
• Evaluate the investment independently. Visa availability does not establish project quality, repayment prospects, or investment safety.

November preserves current status across the reserved EB-5 categories and leaves unreserved China and India dates unchanged. That gives investors a clear set of rules for the month, while leaving future availability and individual processing timelines open to change.

For a family considering its next step, the useful question is how those published dates apply to its specific petition, filing eligibility, and investment—not simply whether EB-5 is described as current.

FAQs

1. Are EB-5 reserved visa categories current in November 2026?

Yes. The November 2026 Visa Bulletin lists all three EB-5 reserved categories—rural, high unemployment, and infrastructure—as current for every country, including China and India. Eligible applicants face no published priority-date cutoff in these categories for November. Current status does not guarantee immediate approval or future visa availability.

2. What are the November 2026 EB-5 cutoff dates for China and India?

For EB-5 unreserved applicants, China’s Final Action Date is December 1, 2016, and India’s is December 1, 2023. Their Dates for Filing are March 1, 2021, and May 1, 2024, respectively. These dates are unchanged from October. Where a cutoff applies, an applicant’s priority date must be earlier than the listed date.

3. What is the difference between EB-5 Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing?

Final Action Dates determine whether an immigrant visa number may be available for final approval. Dates for Filing determine when applicants may begin certain application steps. Applicants filing Form I-485 must follow USCIS’s monthly chart selection. Eligibility to file does not necessarily mean a case is eligible for approval.

4. Does a current EB-5 category mean there is no waiting period?

No. A current EB-5 category means there is no published priority-date cutoff for that month. Applicants must still satisfy eligibility requirements and complete petition and application processing. The designation does not establish a processing timeline, measure all pending demand, or guarantee that the category will remain current.

5. Did any EB-5 visa dates change in the November 2026 Visa Bulletin?

No. All EB-5 Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing remain unchanged from October 2026. Reserved categories remain current worldwide, while unreserved China and India retain their cutoff dates. Other immigration categories show selective advances, but those changes do not alter November’s EB-5 visa availability.