The new federal fiscal year begins October 1 with reopened green card categories, tighter Medicaid eligibility for some immigrants, and expanded social media screening of visa applicants. The changes affect whether some immigrants can advance long-standing applications, retain health coverage, or face additional scrutiny. Indian employment-based green card applicants, some noncitizens receiving Medicaid or CHIP, foreign journalists, and certain Canadian and Mexican professionals are among those affected.
October’s most closely watched immigration update is the State Department’s October 2026 Visa Bulletin. The monthly bulletin sets the dates that determine when many family-sponsored and employment-based green card applicants can submit documents or receive final approval. Two employment-based categories for Indian applicants that had no visas available in September reopen as new visa numbers become available for the 2027 fiscal year.
India’s EB-2 category, for workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability, has a Final Action Date of November 1, 2013. That means applicants with an earlier priority date may be eligible for a visa to be issued or their green card application to be approved. India’s unreserved EB-5 category, for immigrant investors who are not applying through one of the program’s specially protected investment categories, reopens with a cutoff of December 1, 2023.
The date for EB-1 India, which covers priority workers such as people with extraordinary ability, leading professors or researchers and some multinational executives, also advances from October 15, 2022, to February 1, 2023. China sees particularly large changes in the Dates for Filing chart, which determines when applicants may be allowed to submit their paperwork even if their green card cannot yet be approved. China’s EB-3 filing cutoff, covering skilled workers, professionals and some other workers, advances from January 8, 2022, to April 1, 2024.
The country’s unreserved EB-5 filing date for immigrant investors moves from March 1, 2017, to March 1, 2021. The EB-2 Final Action Date for most countries, Mexico and the Philippines, changes from “Current,” meaning no cutoff applied, to January 1, 2025. EB-3 for most countries and Mexico moves backward from September 1 to May 15, 2024.
This backward movement is known as retrogression and means fewer applicants are immediately eligible for approval. The State Department said it moved some employment-based dates backward to keep the number of visas issued within quarterly and annual limits. Family-sponsored applicants see more broadly favorable movement.
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