US Employment Visa Filing Dates Hold for Mexican Applicants; EB-3 Other Workers Advance

The U.S. State Department has released the November 2026 Visa Bulletin, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has confirmed that employment-based visa preference filings must use the Dates for Filing chart for the month. Cutoff dates hold steady across nearly every category, with one exception: EB-3 Other Workers moves forward by one month for Mexico and for all chargeability areas except those listed.

Key facts

• Published 22 October 2026 for the November 2026 Visa Bulletin.
• Employment-based preference filings use the Dates for Filing chart in November.
• Most cutoff dates are unchanged from the previous month.
• Only EB-3 Other Workers advanced, by one month, for Mexico and most other chargeability areas.
• No Diversity Visa updates appear in the November bulletin.

What is changing?

Very little. The November bulletin repeats the filing approach used in October 2026, when USCIS also directed employment-based preference categories to use the Dates for Filing chart. That chart sets the date from which a foreign national may submit an adjustment of status application to USCIS.

Under the November bulletin, a category shows a date only if applicants whose priority date falls before that date may file. Where a category is listed as "Current", no cutoff date is shown.

Which cutoff dates apply in November?

• EB-1: China-mainland born 1 July 2024; India 1 July 2024; all other chargeability areas, Mexico and the Philippines remain Current.
• EB-2: China-mainland born 1 January 2023; India 15 January 2015; all other chargeability areas, Mexico and the Philippines 15 March 2026.
• EB-3: China-mainland born 1 April 2024; India 15 January 2015; all other chargeability areas and Mexico 1 August 2024; the Philippines 1 January 2024.
• EB-3 Other Workers: all other chargeability areas and Mexico 1 July 2022; China-mainland born 1 October 2020; India 15 January 2015; the Philippines 1 June 2022.
• EB-5 (unreserved): China-mainland born 1 March 2021; India 1 May 2024; all other chargeability areas, Mexico and the Philippines remain Current.

Who is affected?

The bulletin covers foreign nationals seeking employment-based permanent residence in the United States, sorted by preference category and by chargeability area, including mainland China, India, Mexico and the Philippines. Dates for Filing tell them when an adjustment of status application can be submitted to USCIS.

What is the Other Workers category?

The bulletin describes "other workers" as unskilled labour requiring less than two years of experience. This is the only category that moved in November: its Dates for Filing advanced by one month for Mexico and for all chargeability areas except those listed, settling at 1 July 2022 for those areas.

What this means for travellers

Applicants in most employment-based categories should expect no change in when they can file. Anyone planning an adjustment of status submission should compare their priority date with the November Dates for Filing cutoff for their category and chargeability area before submitting to USCIS.

The bulletin contains no Diversity Visa updates, and the source gives no further dates to watch. The Final Action Dates chart, which indicates who is eligible for final action on a permanent residence application and when a visa can be issued, is covered separately in the monthly Visa Bulletin.