September 2026 US visa bulletin: what Indians should expect from the FY2027 reset
September closes a brutal US fiscal year for Indian green-card applicants — EB-2 and EB-5 India have been Unavailable since July. The October bulletin brings the FY2027 reset, when the categories are expected to reopen.
September marks the end of a brutal US fiscal year for Indian green-card hopefuls — and the start of the reset they have been waiting for.
Under the current bulletin, EB-2 and EB-5 (Unreserved) for India have been "Unavailable" since July, meaning no green cards in those categories can be issued to Indian-born applicants for the rest of fiscal year 2026, which ends on 30 September. India had exhausted its pro-rated share of the annual quota, and EB-1 India also retrogressed. (How the wall went up: our explainer on EB-2 India going unavailable.)
The September visa bulletin, published by the State Department around mid-August, is the last of FY2026 and is unlikely to bring relief. The date to watch is the one after it: the October 2026 bulletin, published in September, carries the first FY2027 dates. Because a new fiscal year resets the annual quota, immigration attorneys widely expect EB-2 India and EB-5 India Unreserved to move from "Unavailable" back to a dated status in October — a modest but real reopening.
For Indian applicants the practical advice is unchanged: keep documents current and ready, watch the October bulletin rather than September's, and be prepared to act quickly if a filing window opens. The State Department's monthly visa bulletin remains the only authoritative source for the dates — treat law-firm previews as informed guesses, not guarantees.
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