EB-5 cutoff dates in the State Department’s September 2026 Visa Bulletin remain unchanged since the previous month, but the Visa Bulletin finalizes a higher FY2026 employment-based limit of 186,317 visas, warns that the unreserved category could retrogress before year-end, and underscores the fact that the September 30 grandfathering deadline is now just weeks away.
Each month, the US Department of State publishes the Visa Bulletin, providing important updates on immigrant visa availability across all employment- and family-based categories. For EB-5 investors, these monthly bulletins offer valuable insight into eb5 visa wait times, current backlogs, and what to expect in the months ahead.
The September 2026 Visa Bulletin closes out fiscal year 2026. The EB-5 charts themselves did not move this month, but three related things did, and each one matters more than a change in the cut-off date would have. The Department of State finalized an employment-based annual limit well above the statutory floor and issued a new warning aimed specifically at the EB-5 unreserved category. What’s more, the calendar shows that a significant filing deadline is coming within weeks.
What Actually Changed This Month
Every EB-5 row on the September Visa Bulletin charts for both “final action date” and “dates for filing” is identical to that for August. The India unreserved category remains unavailable, the China-mainland-born category remains at a December 1, 2016, final action date, and all three reserved categories remain current for every country of chargeability.
The relevant changes occur elsewhere:
- The Department finalized the FY2026 worldwide employment-based preference limit at 186,317 visas, well above the statutory floor of 140,000 that appeared in bulletins earlier this year. The increase comes from unused family-sponsored numbers rolling into the employment-based pool.
- The per-country limit for FY2026 rose to 28,862, and to 29,136 once EB-5 carryover numbers under INA Section 203(b)(5)(B) are included. The dependent area limit is 8,247, or 8,325 with carryover.
- A new advisory, Section G, warns that demand and number use in the EB-5 unreserved category may require retrogressing the final action date or making the category unavailable before the fiscal year ends.
A Larger EB-5 Pool Than Expected
EB-5 receives 7.1% of the worldwide limit on employment-based visas, so a larger overall pool means a larger EB-5 pool.
At the confirmed limit of 186,317 visas, EB-5 is entitled to roughly 13,228 of them in FY2026, compared with approximately 9,940 had the limit held at the floor of 140,000 visas. Applying the allocation formula the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) established, that works out to roughly:
- 2,646 visas reserved for eb5 rural projects (20%);
- 1,323 visas reserved for high-unemployment-area projects (10%);
- 265 visas reserved for eb5 infrastructure projects (2%); and
- approximately 8,995 visas in the traditional unreserved category (68%).
This is a real increase in capacity, and it is the clearest illustration yet of why the reserved categories behave so differently from the unreserved pool. The same fiscal year that delivered roughly a third more EB-5 visas than the floor would have still ended with India’s unreserved allocation exhausted, because supply and demand are distributed very differently across categories and countries.
What the New EB-5 Advisory Means
Section G in the Visa Bulletin is new this month, and investors should read it carefully.
The State Department has stated that demand and number use in the EB-5 unreserved category may make it necessary to retrogress the final action date or make the category unavailable before the end of FY2026. In practical terms, the worldwide “C” currently shown for unreserved should not be treated as permanent.
This sits alongside a broader note explaining that reduced visa issuance for certain nationalities led the Department to advance dates across multiple categories so as to use available FY2026 numbers, with the caution that retrogression may follow as additional demand materializes. Today’s favorable dates reflect current conditions rather than a durable trend.
October 1 and What the Reset Means
The US government’s fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30 the following calendar year, so September is the last month that draws on the FY2026 allocation. On October 1, 2026, a new annual allocation becomes available across all employment-based categories.
For Indian investors, this is the significant date in practical terms. India’s unreserved EB-5 category has been unavailable since its FY2026 allocation was exhausted earlier in the year, which has extended the eb5 timeline for unreserved filings for India. That designation runs through September 30 and is expected to lift when FY2027 numbers become available.
The full-year picture is worth noting. Across an entire fiscal year in which India’s unreserved allocation ran out and EB-2 India visas sat unavailable, the reserved rural, high-unemployment-area, and infrastructure categories stayed current for Indian investors from start to finish. For families weighing their selection of a project, that track record is more informative than any single month’s chart, and it explains why so many Indian investors have used reserved projects to avoid the eb5 priority date backlog affecting unreserved filings.
Two cautions are relevant to the reset. FY2027 limits will be recalculated, so investors should not assume that the elevated FY2026 figure of 186,317 will carry forward. And newly available numbers do not eliminate accumulated demand, so investors from India and China should expect cut-off dates to reappear as FY2027 demand materializes.
The September 30 Grandfathering Deadline Is Now Weeks Away
Under the RIA, investors whose petitions are filed before September 30, 2026, retain the ability to have their petitions and related applications processed even if the eb5 regional center program were to lapse or a specific regional center were terminated in the future. Investors who file after September 30, 2026, do not receive the same protection. The Regional Center Program itself is currently authorized through September 30, 2027, so this deadline concerns the durability of an individual investor’s filing rather than the immediate status of the program.
Because the protection turns on the precise filing date, investors who intend to rely on it should confirm timing and documentary readiness with experienced immigration counsel now rather than in the final days of September.
Looking slightly further out, the RIA requires the EB-5 minimum investment amounts to be adjusted for inflation every five years beginning on January 1, 2027. Investors who complete their investment and file before that adjustment takes effect will do so at current dollar thresholds.
Looking Ahead
FY2026 ends as a year defined by an unusual combination of a higher-than-expected visa supply and sharply uneven country-level demand. There were more employment-based numbers available than the statutory floor suggested, and the categories with the greatest demand still ran out.
For prospective investors, the takeaways are consistent. Reserved EB-5 categories remain the most reliable route to a current priority date, the new Section G advisory means the unreserved category’s current status should not be taken for granted, and the weeks remaining before September 30 carry real consequences for anyone who has not yet filed.
How LCR Capital Partners Can Help
Reading the Visa Bulletin is one thing; translating it into the right filing decision for your family is another. At LCR Capital Partners, we have spent more than a decade guiding investors through the EB-5 process, and our team works to align project selection with visa availability rather than treating the two as separate questions. Because reserved rural, high-unemployment-area, and infrastructure allocations behave so differently from the unreserved pool, category selection can be the single most consequential decision an investor makes, particularly for EB-5 families whose applications are chargeable to India or China.
Our team monitors every Visa Bulletin release, tracks the regulatory calendar including the September 30 grandfathering deadline and the January 2027 investment amount adjustment, and helps investors understand what each development means for their specific timeline. We work alongside experienced immigration counsel and structure our offerings to the compliance standards the RIA requires, so investors can move forward with clarity about both their immigration path and the underlying project.
If you are evaluating EB-5 and want to understand how current visa availability affects your family’s timeline, reach out to the LCR Capital Partners team. We will walk you through your options and build a plan tailored to your circumstances, your country of chargeability, and your goals. Contact us today for personal assistance on your EB-5 journey.
