Updated November 11, 2026

January visa bulletin 2026: USCIS dates for filing, priority date cutoffs and how to file Form I-485

For the January 2026 Visa Bulletin, USCIS designated the Dates for Filing Applications charts for both family-sponsored and employment-based adjustment of status applications (USCIS When to File January 2026 page, updated December 19, 2025). If your category is marked current (C) or your priority date is earlier than the cutoff date listed for your preference category and country of birth, you may file Form I-485 in January 2026. Statutory annual limits cap family-sponsored preference visas at 226,000 and employment-based preference visas at 140,000 per year.

Which chart controls Form I-485 filings in the January 2026 visa bulletin?

Every month, the Department of State publishes immigrant visa availability in the Visa Bulletin (travel.state.gov). The bulletin contains two separate tables for each preference category: Application Final Action Dates (Chart A) and Dates for Filing Applications (Chart B).

The two charts serve different purposes depending on where you apply. For overseas applicants going through consular processing, the National Visa Center uses Dates for Filing to assemble documents, but consular officers can only issue an immigrant visa once your priority date is current under Final Action Dates. For applicants living in the United States, USCIS decides each month which chart governs Form I-485 adjustment of status filings.

For January 2026, USCIS confirmed that both family-sponsored and employment-based preference applicants use the Dates for Filing charts. This allows applicants inside the United States to submit Form I-485 before a visa number is immediately ready for final issuance.

Three rules govern how to read the tables below:

• A specific date (such as 01AUG23): You may file Form I-485 if your priority date is earlier than the cutoff date listed on the chart, provided you are otherwise eligible.
• C (Current): Immigrant visas are immediately available to all qualified applicants in that category and country. You may file regardless of your priority date.
• U (Unauthorized): Visa numbers are temporarily unavailable and not authorized for issuance to any applicant in that category and country.

Employment-based Dates for Filing: January 2026 visa bulletin

If you are applying for a green card through employment, check the table below from USCIS's January 2026 When to File page. Your priority date is the date the Department of Labor accepted your labor certification application for processing (if required) or the date USCIS properly accepted your Form I-140, Form I-360, or Form I-526 petition.

Notice the urgency for Certain Religious Workers under the 4th preference. In the February 2026 Dates for Filing chart (updated by USCIS on January 13, 2026), Certain Religious Workers became U (unauthorized) across all regions.

January 2026 Dates for Filing for Employment-Based Adjustment of Status Applications (uscis.gov)

Family-sponsored Dates for Filing: January 2026 visa bulletin

For family-sponsored preference categories, your priority date is the date your relative properly filed Form I-130 (or Form I-360 in certain instances) with USCIS. Spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents of U.S. citizens (when the citizen is at least 21 years old) are immediate relatives. Immediate relative visas are unlimited, so they do not wait for a cutoff date in the Visa Bulletin and may file Form I-485 concurrently with Form I-130.

Other relatives of U.S. citizens and relatives of lawful permanent residents fall into the five numerically limited family preference categories shown in the January 2026 USCIS filing chart below:

• F1 (First preference): Unmarried sons and daughters (21 years old or older) of U.S. citizens.
• F2A (Second preference 2A): Spouses and unmarried children (under 21) of lawful permanent residents (Green Card holders).
• F2B (Second preference 2B): Unmarried adult sons and daughters (21 years old or older) of lawful permanent residents.
• F3 (Third preference): Married sons and daughters (any age) of U.S. citizens.
• F4 (Fourth preference): Brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens (at least 21 years old).

January 2026 Dates for Filing for Family-Sponsored Adjustment of Status Applications (uscis.gov)

How the Dates for Filing moved from January 2026 to February 2026

Comparing USCIS's January 2026 and February 2026 When to File charts shows exactly which categories advanced in the following month and which stalled. Five specific cutoff shifts occurred between the two months while all other categories held steady.

For family-sponsored applicants, three categories advanced in the February 2026 filing chart:

Comparison of USCIS Dates for Filing: January 2026 vs. February 2026 (uscis.gov)

How priority dates, cross-chargeability and retrogression work

Where you stand in the visa queue depends on three rules in the USCIS Policy Manual (Volume 7, Part A, Chapter 6) and the USCIS Visa Availability and Priority Dates guidance: how your priority date is locked in, whether you can use a family member's country of birth, and what happens if cutoff dates move backward.

Checking and preserving your priority date. You can find your priority date on Form I-797, Notice of Action, for the approved or pending petition filed on your behalf. In employment-based categories that require a Department of Labor permanent labor certification, your priority date is the date DOL accepts the labor certification application for processing. To keep that priority date valid, your employer must file Form I-140 with USCIS within 180 days of the DOL approval date on the labor certification. If you are the beneficiary of multiple approved employment-based petitions under 1st, 2nd, or 3rd preference, you are entitled to the earliest priority date unless the earlier petition was revoked for fraud, willful misrepresentation, material error, or invalidation of the labor certification.

Using cross-chargeability to bypass a backlog. Your visa is normally charged to your country of birth. Under the USCIS Policy Manual, cross-chargeability allows a principal applicant to charge their visa to a derivative spouse's country of birth when the principal's country is backlogged. The derivative spouse may also cross-charge to the principal's country. Derivative children may cross-charge to either parent's country of birth as necessary. Parents may never cross-charge to a child's country of birth. When a principal applicant uses a derivative spouse's country of chargeability, both applicants must be eligible to adjust status and USCIS approves both Form I-485 applications at the same time.

Worked example of cross-chargeability (written by our team using the USCIS January 2026 Dates for Filing table. The applicants are invented): Suppose an EB-2 professional born in India has an approved Form I-140 with a priority date of June 10, 2023. Looking at the January 2026 EB-2 India column (01DEC13), that priority date is more than nine years behind the cutoff. However, if the applicant is married to a derivative spouse born in Germany (which falls under All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed, with an EB-2 cutoff of 15OCT24), the principal applicant and spouse can file their Form I-485 package together in January 2026 and request cross-chargeability to Germany, because June 10, 2023 is earlier than October 15, 2024.

What happens during visa retrogression. Visa retrogression occurs when more people apply for a visa in a particular category than there are visas available for that month, causing a cutoff date to move backward to an earlier date. For USCIS to approve your Form I-485, a visa must be available both at the time you file the application and at the time of final adjudication (measured against the Application Final Action Dates chart in effect when the case is decided). If a visa was available when you properly filed Form I-485, but the category retrogresses before final adjudication, USCIS retains your case, pre-processes it, completes your interview and security checks, and holds final approval in abeyance until a visa number becomes available again.

Checklist: 7 steps to file Form I-485 when your priority date is current

If your priority date is earlier than the January 2026 cutoff date (or your category shows C), use this seven-step plan based on USCIS adjustment procedures and the Policy Manual to prepare and track your application:

• 1. Confirm your underlying petition or concurrent filing eligibility: Check your Form I-797 receipt or approval notice. If you are in a family-sponsored or employment-based preference category and your priority date is current on the USCIS-designated filing chart, you may either file Form I-485 using an existing approved petition or concurrently file Form I-485 together with a newly submitted Form I-130 or Form I-140.
• 2. Verify ongoing eligibility and status requirements: Under INA 245(a) and 245(c), most preference applicants must have been inspected and admitted or paroled. You must also have maintained valid nonimmigrant status up to the filing date. Certain employment-based applicants may overcome status bars under INA 245(k). Grandfathered applicants under INA 245(i) must include Form I-485 Supplement A. For employment-based petitions, confirm the job offer still exists with a viable employer. Once Form I-485 has been pending for 180 days or more, you may become eligible for job portability under INA 204(j) to a same or similar occupational classification.
• 3. Complete Form I-693 (Report of Immigration Medical Examination and Vaccination Record): Schedule an examination with a USCIS-designated civil surgeon in the United States. The officer reviews Form I-693 to verify that the medical results are valid and that you have no health-related grounds of inadmissibility.
• 4. Prepare Form I-864 (Affidavit of Support) if required: Most family-based applicants, and employment-based applicants whose relative filed the Form I-140 or owns 5% or more of the petitioning firm, must submit Form I-864 showing the sponsor's income meets at least 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (100% for active-duty U.S. armed forces sponsors petitioning for a spouse or child). Sponsors must include their most recent year's federal tax return (with W-2s and 1099s, unless submitting an IRS transcript), proof of U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status, and proof of U.S. domicile. If income falls short, assets must total three times the difference for a spouse or five times the difference for any other relative. Standard employment-based applicants and individuals credited with 40 qualifying quarters of work under the Social Security Act are exempt from Form I-864.
• 5. File work and travel authorization concurrently and verify payment: You can concurrently submit Form I-765 for employment authorization and Form I-131 for advance parole travel permission with your Form I-485. Filing under Dates for Filing lets you obtain an EAD card and travel authorization while waiting for Final Action Dates to become current. Use Form G-1055 to confirm the filing fee and pay by credit or debit card using Form G-1450 or by bank transfer using Form G-1650. Cash is never accepted.
• 6. Attend your Application Support Center (ASC) biometrics appointment: After filing, USCIS mails an appointment notice for fingerprints, a photograph, and a signature to run security and background checks. At the ASC, you must sign an acknowledgment certifying that your application was complete, true, and correct when filed. Missing this appointment without rescheduling or declining to sign the acknowledgment can result in a Form I-485 denial.
• 7. Prepare original documents for your USCIS interview and keep your address updated: If USCIS schedules an interview, you (and your petitioning family member, if applicable) must bring originals of all documentation submitted with Form I-485, including all passports, travel documents, and Form I-94 arrival and departure records issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whether or not they are expired. If you move while your case is pending, you must report your new address to USCIS within 10 days.

What the USCIS officer checks at an adjustment of status interview

When USCIS schedules an adjustment of status interview, you appear at a USCIS office to answer questions under oath or affirmation regarding your Form I-485. Under the Adjudicative Review guidelines in the Policy Manual, the interviewing officer checks four core areas before approving a green card:

First, the officer verifies the underlying basis to adjust status by reviewing the actual Form I-130, Form I-140, Form I-360, or Form I-526 petition inside your A-file.

Second, the officer checks ongoing eligibility. In a family-based case, the qualifying family relationship must remain intact, and derivative children must still qualify under statutory age rules or the Child Status Protection Act. In an employment-based case, the employer must be a viable business with a valid business license, have the financial means to pay you, and continue to offer the job, unless you qualify for 180-day job portability under Form I-485J.

Third, the officer confirms whether you ever violated your nonimmigrant status or worked without authorization, and checks that a visa number is currently available under the Application Final Action Dates chart.

Fourth, the officer reviews your admissibility under INA 212, checking your Form I-693 medical record and your sponsor's Form I-864 tax documents. To prepare, organize your original birth and marriage certificates, every past and current passport, all Form I-94 arrival-departure records, and your current employment verification or sponsor tax transcripts so you can hand any document to the officer immediately when asked.

Practice example

Are you still working for the employer that filed your Form I-140 petition, and what are your job duties and salary?

State clearly whether you currently work for the petitioning employer or hold an active job offer from them, and give your exact job title, work location, core duties, and annual salary as listed on your Form I-140 (or Form I-485J if you are porting to a new employer after your Form I-485 has been pending for 180 days or more). Have your original Form I-797 approval notice, recent pay stubs, W-2 tax forms, and a current employment verification letter ready to hand to the officer if requested. If your priority date comes from an earlier approved Form I-140 with a previous employer, be ready to show both approval notices and explain when you changed employers.

Under the Policy Manual, the officer must verify the continuing validity of the employment-based petition, confirm that the job offer still exists in the same or a similar occupational classification, and check that the employer has the financial means to pay the offered wage.

This is interview practice, not legal advice. For questions about your own case, talk to an immigration attorney. Visaful is not affiliated with the U.S. government or the Department of State.