Green Card Priority Date Tracker: Compare to the Visa Bulletin (2026)

Every July, Sameer’s group chat lights up within an hour of the Visa Bulletin PDF posting. Someone pastes a screenshot. Someone else declares “EB-2 India is dead.” A third person asks whether Dates for Filing still lets them submit an I-485 “anyway.” Sameer’s priority date is stuck on a printed I-140 approval notice from years ago. What he needs is not another screenshot — it is a disciplined comparison: country of chargeability, preference category, priority date, Final Action cell, Dates for Filing cell, and the separate USCIS note that says which chart may be used to file this month.

This tracker does that comparison against a dated snapshot of the July 2026 Visa Bulletin employment-based charts. Enter chargeability, EB-1 / EB-2 / EB-3, and your priority date; the tool reports whether you are earlier than, equal to the edge cases of, or behind each chart cell — including Current (C) and Unavailable (U). Every result follows fixed published bulletin rules — not AI guesswork. You can review how we verify bulletin data on our Methodology page. Then open the live July 2026 Visa Bulletin and USCIS chart instructions before you treat any result as filing advice.

How to use a Visa Bulletin without fooling yourself

The Department of State publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin with two employment-based charts most applicants care about: Final Action Dates (when a visa number is available for final action) and Dates for Filing (sometimes used to submit an adjustment package earlier). USCIS posts a separate monthly note telling filers which chart to use for Form I-485. For July 2026, public reporting and USCIS’s Visa Bulletin info practice directed employment-based applicants to the Final Action Dates chart for adjustment filing eligibility — even though Dates for Filing cells may look more generous for some India and China rows.

“Current” on a chart is not an approval. Unavailable (U) — as India EB-2 was in the July 2026 bulletin — means numbers are not authorized in that category and country for that month’s allocation story. DOS explained that India’s prorated EB-2 limit was reached and the category is unavailable for the remainder of FY 2026, with discussion of possible October movement depending on demand and the next fiscal year’s limit. That is a number-availability statement, not a denial of your I-140.

What the July 2026 snapshot is telling readers

Without turning this page into a full reprint of the PDF, several employment-based themes from the July 2026 bulletin matter for planning:

• India EB-2 Final Action: Unavailable for the remainder of FY 2026 after the country’s prorated limit was reached.
• India EB-1 Final Action: a dated cutoff (October 15, 2022 in the encoded table) with bulletin discussion of retrogression pressure from demand.
• India EB-3 Final Action: January 1, 2014 in the snapshot — still deep backlog, but a date rather than U.
• China EB-2 / EB-3: dated cutoffs with DOS warnings that further retrogression or unavailability could appear if demand stays high.
• Rest of World EB-1 / EB-2: often Current on Final Action in this snapshot, while EB-3 ROW carried an August 1, 2024 Final Action date — a reminder that “ROW” is not automatically problem-free in every preference.

Those cells are encoded in this site’s bulletin data file with a clear data-as-of label. When August or October posts, the live State Department page wins over any stale on-site table until we refresh.

Why we snapshot instead of pretending to scrape live

Visa Bulletin HTML and PDFs can change format. A brittle scraper that silently breaks — or worse, silently shows last month’s dates with this month’s label — is more dangerous than an honest dated table. We show the July 2026 snapshot, label it, and link the live bulletin and USCIS instructions on every result. That is the same trust posture as our fee tools: dated rules you can audit, plus a pointer to the primary source.

Worked examples with July 2026 logic

Example 1 — India EB-2, priority date March 2013. Final Action shows Unavailable. Sameer is not “almost current” this month for final number use in EB-2 India; the category is closed for FY 2026 remainder per DOS. Dates for Filing may still show an older cutoff date in the snapshot, but if USCIS requires Final Action for July I-485 filings, that filing chart does not open a door by itself. Plan around October possibilities with counsel — not around a group-chat rumor.

Example 2 — India EB-3, priority date December 15, 2013. Final Action January 1, 2014 means a December 2013 priority date is earlier than the cutoff and may be eligible for final action if otherwise qualified — while a February 2014 date is not. One month on a PERM filing receipt can be the entire difference. Verify the exact priority date on the I-140 / PERM papers before celebrating.

Example 3 — China EB-1, priority date May 1, 2023. With a Final Action cutoff of June 1, 2023 in the snapshot, May 2023 is earlier than the cutoff (favorable for final action comparison). A priority date of July 2023 would not be. Retrogression risk means a date that works in July might not work in a later month if DOS pulls the line back.

Example 4 — ROW EB-2, priority date 2020, Final Action Current. Current means no cutoff date is holding the category for that chargeability column. Sameer still needs a complete adjustment or consular package. Current removes the bulletin roadblock; it does not finish the case.

Example 5 — H-1B worker with approved I-140 and a 2015 India EB-2 date. The green-card line is long or unavailable; the H-1B job still ends on a Friday. The grace period tracker becomes the urgent tool even though this priority-date page still matters for long-term planning. People lose status waiting for a bulletin while ignoring a 60-day employment clock.

Employee, employer, and edge-case views

If you are the worker. Know your priority date, category, and chargeability cold. Keep PDFs of the I-140 approval, PERM certification, and any EB category changes. When the bulletin moves, compare calmly: Final Action for number use, USCIS chart note for filing. Do not resign from H-1B employment because a Dates for Filing cell looked briefly favorable.

If you are HR or immigration program manager. Track employees’ priority dates in a system of record, not in personal inboxes. When DOS marks a category Unavailable, set expectations for I-485 timelines and AOS portability planning. When Final Action becomes current for a cohort, prepare medicals and filing capacity — backlogs of paperwork create their own delays after the bulletin finally cooperates.

Edge cases. Cross-chargeability through a spouse can change the country column — counsel only. Concurrent EB-1 and EB-2 filings create multiple priority-date stories. EB-2 NIW vs PERM-based EB-2 share a preference category but not always the same evidence path. Downstream immigrant intent and travel while an I-485 is pending involve Advance Parole — a different toolkit than this bulletin comparator. “Other Workers” EB-3 lines can differ from skilled EB-3; this tool focuses on the main EB-1/2/3 professional/skilled framing in its category picker.

Priority dates while you are still on H-1B

Many readers hit this page while maintaining H-1B status through extensions past the sixth year based on a pending or approved I-140. A stuck priority date is often the reason those extensions exist. If employment ends, grace-period rules dominate the next 60 days. If you are still in lottery territory for a new cap-subject role, wage-weighted selection on our lottery calculator is a separate problem. If a new consular H-1B is somehow in play while you wait for a green card, screen the $100K fee checker before anyone assumes “we’ll just stamp you abroad.”

Money, relocation, and the long wait

Green-card waits reshape compensation and life logistics. People relocate between states for the sponsored job, then discover withholding and state tax differ sharply. When an offer or transfer city is real, use the US Tax Tools state tax hub and paycheck calculator beside — not instead of — bulletin tracking. Filing fees for I-485, medical exams, and counsel are also real costs; they are not encoded in this Visa Bulletin tool, and they should not be confused with H-1B petition stacks on the total cost calculator.

A monthly ritual that beats group-chat panic

• When the new bulletin posts, open the official HTML/PDF — not only a law-firm summary.
• Run this tracker against your saved priority date; screenshot the result with the bulletin month visible.
• Open USCIS’s “which chart” note before any I-485 discussion.
• If Final Action is Unavailable or retrogressed, update family and employer expectations the same day.
• If Final Action newly favors your date, ask counsel what else must be ready (medicals, affidavits, employer letter) so you do not waste the month.

Sameer’s group chat will still light up. The difference is that his reply can be a dated comparison against Final Action and Dates for Filing — plus a link to travel.state.gov — instead of a vibes-based verdict that “India is dead” or “everyone should file tomorrow.” Keep the PDF, keep your I-140 notice, and keep the habit. The bulletin rewards people who read it like a primary source, not like a rumor mill.

One last precision point: this tool compares calendar dates in a straightforward earlier-than-cutoff model for dated cells, treats C as current, and treats U as unavailable. Borderline facts — exact time zones on a filing receipt, whether a particular derivative family member uses the same priority date, whether a motion or appeal affects priority-date retention — belong to counsel. Use the tracker to end the “what does the bulletin say?” argument quickly, then spend attorney time on the questions screenshots cannot answer.

Reading “Unavailable,” retrogression, and fiscal-year resets without folklore

When DOS marks a category Unavailable, final action stops for that chargeability and preference until a later bulletin restores a date or Current. For India EB-2 in July 2026, DOS tied unavailability to the country’s prorated FY 2026 limit and discussed likely October movement subject to demand and the FY 2027 worldwide employment-based limit. That is not a promise of a specific October cutoff — it is guidance about the calendar rhythm of fiscal-year number resets. Treat October as a planning checkpoint with counsel, not as a guaranteed catch-up month for every priority date.

Retrogression is different: a cutoff date moves earlier, so some people who could have been approved last month cannot use a number this month. India EB-1’s July 2026 discussion of retrogression pressure is a live example. If your I-485 is already pending and a date retrogresses, ask counsel about the difference between filing eligibility and approval timing — pending cases and new filings are not always in the same posture. Do not abandon a careful long-term strategy because one month’s PDF felt personally insulting.

Family derivatives, employers who sell the company, and other real-life interrupts

Priority dates usually travel with the principal’s immigrant petition story, and derivatives (spouse and children) generally ride that same date when properly included — but aging-out children, divorce, and job changes mid-AOS create fact patterns this tracker will never see. Employers that merge, lay off, or withdraw I-140s can threaten the underlying petition even when the Visa Bulletin looks friendly. AC21 portability after an I-485 has been pending 180 days is a separate statutory tool with its own evidence demands. Keep bulletin watching and employment stability watching on the same personal dashboard.

If your long-term plan still depends on H-1B maintenance for years, budget ordinary extension costs with the total cost calculator and keep grace-period literacy ready for bad-news Fridays. Green-card hope is not a substitute for status maintenance. Status maintenance is not a substitute for knowing whether your priority date is current. Adults in this system need both calendars — and a monthly habit of opening the primary State Department bulletin instead of trusting a forwarded JPEG from a cousin’s WhatsApp group that cropped out the footnotes about unavailability and retrogression warnings.

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