October 2026 Visa Bulletin: What Actually Resets When FY2027 Opens

The October 2026 bulletin isn't out yet, but the law already guarantees EB-2 India can't stay listed Unavailable once FY2027 begins.

Part of our guide to the Visa Bulletin and priority dates.

If you're refreshing a tracker site right now looking for the October 2026 cutoff date for EB-2 India, stop, because it doesn't exist yet. As of 2026-09-12, the Department of State has not published the October 2026 Visa Bulletin. What you can rely on instead is the mechanics: October opens fiscal year 2027, and that reset guarantees certain things will change on October 1 regardless of which specific dates the Department of State ultimately prints.

This post separates what's legally certain about the FY2027 rollover from what's still an unknown waiting on an official release, so you know exactly what to watch for and what to ignore.

Where things stand as of September 12, 2026

The September 2026 Bulletin, still the operative one at the time of writing, held Final Action Dates flat across EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, and EB-5 as the fiscal year wound down. EB-2 India specifically was listed as "Unavailable" for that month. Trackers that follow the Department of State's typical mid-month release pattern expect the October 2026 Bulletin around 2026-09-16, but that is a reported expectation, not a confirmed release date. If you need to plan around a specific date, get it from the Department of State's Visa Bulletin page, not from a projection.

What "opening a new fiscal year" mechanically does

The Visa Bulletin isn't just a monthly announcement, it's the output of a statutory allocation system that runs on a fixed annual cycle. Two structural resets are guaranteed the moment FY2027 begins on October 1, 2026:

1. The annual worldwide employment-based limit resets. Congress caps total employment-based immigrant visa issuance at roughly 140,000 per fiscal year. Whatever portion of that number went unused (or was exhausted) in FY2026 does not carry forward as extra room, and a fresh allocation opens for FY2027.
2. Per-country allocations reset alongside it. Each employment-based preference category also has a per-country ceiling within that annual total. When a country like India exhausts its share for a category in one fiscal year, the category can show as "Unavailable" for the rest of that year. That specific constraint is tied to the fiscal year, so it cannot legally persist once a new year's allocation opens.

Neither of these mechanics tells you what the actual cutoff date will be for EB-2 India, EB-3 India, EB-2 China, or any other line in October. They only tell you that the reason a category was frozen in September cannot be the reason it stays frozen in October.

FY2026 close vs. FY2027 open, what's fixed and what isn't

The middle column is the only part you should treat as fact right now. Everything in the right column depends on the actual October 2026 Bulletin, which had not posted as of 2026-09-12.

Why EB-2 India specifically has to move off "Unavailable"

"Unavailable" is a technical status, not a permanent closure. The Department of State uses it when a category and country combination has used up its numbers for the current fiscal year, and it functions as a placeholder until the next year's allocation exists. Since EB-2 India was marked Unavailable in September 2026 because the FY2026 per-country supply ran out, and FY2027 opens a distinct new supply on October 1, the category cannot stay Unavailable past that transition. It has to be published as either a specific Final Action Date or, in rare cases, Current, though nothing here indicates which outcome is likely. If you want the deeper mechanics of what "Unavailable" specifically means on the chart and how it differs from retrogression, this explainer on what Unavailable means on the Visa Bulletin walks through the distinction in more detail than fits here.

This is also the point where it's worth separating a legal certainty from a hopeful prediction. The rule guarantees a status change is coming. It does not guarantee, or even suggest, how large that change will be, and flat Final Action Dates through September 2026 across every major EB category are a sign that underlying demand pressure has not eased. For a broader look at how forecasters have been reasoning about this specific category heading into the new fiscal year, see predictions for where EB-2 India could land in FY2027 — treat any specific number there the same way you should treat any number anywhere else before October: as a forecast, not a fact.

How the annual publish cycle typically unfolds

If you've never watched a fiscal-year turnover on the Bulletin before, the sequence generally looks like this:

1. Mid-September: The outgoing fiscal year's final monthly Bulletin publishes, showing where every category landed before the year closes. This is the September 2026 edition, already out, with flat dates across EB-1 through EB-5.
2. Mid-September (following weeks): The new fiscal year's opening Bulletin is prepared and published, roughly on the historical pattern that has trackers expecting the October 2026 edition around 2026-09-16 [reported, not confirmed].
3. October 1: The new fiscal year officially begins. The worldwide limit and per-country allocations reset regardless of the exact publish date of the Bulletin itself.
4. Early October: USCIS separately announces, for adjustment of status filers, which chart (Final Action Dates or Dates for Filing) applies for October under its monthly filing chart notice.
5. Ongoing through the fiscal year: Categories move month to month based on visa demand and usage, and a category that opened well in October can still retrogress later in FY2027 if demand outpaces supply.

Step 3 is the one governed by statute. Steps 1, 2, 4, and 5 are administrative and can shift. If you're trying to time a filing around the fiscal year turnover, understanding how priority dates and the Bulletin interact is the foundational piece to read before making any decisions based on a monthly chart.

What this reset does not tell you

It's worth being direct about the limits of what's knowable right now:

• It does not tell you the actual October 2026 cutoff date for EB-2 India, EB-3 India, EB-2 China, or any other category. Anything circulating with a specific date attached before the official release is a private tracker's estimate.
• It does not tell you whether a category that moves off Unavailable will move to a meaningfully earlier date or barely inch forward.
• It does not tell you how USCIS will set the October adjustment-of-status filing chart, which is a separate announcement from the Department of State's Final Action Dates.
• It does not change your own priority date, which is fixed to your I-140 or labor certification filing and unaffected by the fiscal year turning over.

If you're actively tracking your own case against the bulletin month to month, a structured approach helps more than refreshing forums. A tracker strategy specifically built around EB-2 and EB-3 India movement covers how to log your own priority date against each monthly release without over-reading a single month's number.

Common mistakes

• Treating a tracker's predicted October date as official. Multiple third-party sites publish projected cutoff dates before the Department of State releases anything. Until travel.state.gov posts the actual Bulletin, any specific date is speculation, however confident the source sounds.
• Assuming "reset" means "current" or "wide open." A fiscal year reset guarantees new numbers exist, not that your category becomes instantly current. EB-2 India moving off Unavailable could still mean a modest, specific cutoff date rather than a large jump.
• Confusing the worldwide EB limit reset with your individual timeline. The ~140,000 annual limit resetting is a system-level event. It doesn't advance your priority date or change your place in line; it only affects how many numbers exist to allocate against everyone's priority dates that fiscal year.
• Mixing up Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing. USCIS announces separately which chart applies for adjustment of status filing in a given month, and that decision is not automatically the same as the Final Action Dates chart the Department of State publishes.
• Making a job, travel, or filing decision based on a pre-release rumor. If a decision has real consequences, whether it's timing an I-485 filing, a job change, or international travel, wait for the confirmed Bulletin or, better, confirm with an immigration attorney reviewing your specific case.

For context on how the current wage-weighted lottery and other FY2027 mechanics interact with the broader employment-based pipeline this year, the FY2027 H-1B lottery registration numbers are a useful companion read, since both processes reset on the same federal fiscal-year calendar even though they're governed by different statutes.

Frequently asked questions

When does the October 2026 Visa Bulletin actually come out? As of 2026-09-12, the Department of State had not released it. Trackers following the historical mid-month pattern expect it around 2026-09-16, but that's an estimate, not a confirmed date. Check travel.state.gov directly.

What actually resets when FY2027 opens on October 1, 2026? The annual worldwide employment-based limit of roughly 140,000 numbers and each country's per-country allocation both reset by law. Your own priority date does not reset and carries forward exactly as filed.

Can EB-2 India stay listed as Unavailable in the October 2026 Bulletin? No. Unavailable reflects an exhausted fiscal-year allocation, and a fresh FY2027 allocation opens October 1, so that specific status cannot legally persist into the new year.

Does the fiscal year reset mean EB-2 India will jump forward a lot in October? That's unknown. Any specific cutoff date being discussed before the official release is a prediction, not a Department of State number. Flat Final Action Dates through September 2026 suggest continued demand pressure, not a guaranteed large jump.

Where should I check once the real October 2026 numbers are published? Go to travel.state.gov and read the Final Action Dates chart for your specific category and country. Your own I-140 approval notice and an immigration attorney's review of your case matter more than general commentary.

The one thing worth doing before the October Bulletin lands is getting your own paperwork and timeline organized so you can act the moment real numbers post, instead of scrambling. If you want a second set of eyes on where your case actually stands going into FY2027, reach out to the F1Jobs team.