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EB-3 skilled workers and professionals: where the worldwide line stands

Enter the priority date of your PERM labor certification to check whether your EB-3 case can be filed or approved under this month’s bulletin.

Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and past error

Where will you apply?

October 2026 bulletin

Current

Your date is before the Final Action cutoff: a green card can be approved this month.

Final Action DateMay 15, 2024
Date for FilingAugust 1, 2024
I-485 this month (USCIS uses Dates for Filing)You can file
I-485 employment, national average (August 2026)11.8 months
Government fees (paper filing, with work permit and travel permit)$3,645
How this was calculated
  1. Fees: I-140 $715 + I-140 $600 + I-485 $1,440 + I-765 $260 + I-131 $630 (USCIS Form G-1055, edition 10/07/26, and State Department visa fees).

Fee details, line by line

Estimate from public data, not legal advice. Your case may differ (cross-chargeability, CSPA, waivers). For advice, see a licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative. Not affiliated with USCIS or the Department of State. Method and past error

In the October 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-3 for skilled workers and professionals born outside India, mainland China and the Philippines has a Final Action Date of May 15, 2024 and a Date for Filing of August 1, 2024, and Mexico shares that column. The October 2026 bulletin moved both back: the Final Action Date from September 1, 2024 in September, and the filing date from Current (C). EB-3 receives 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based numbers plus any left by EB-1 and EB-2, of which no more than 10,000 may go to Other Workers, who wait on their own, older line at January 1, 2022. The Philippines (August 15, 2023), China (January 8, 2022) and India (January 1, 2014) each have a separate date this month. Our back-test grades a range for dates about six months behind the worldwide cutoff, but not for dates a year or more back.

Who sits in this row

The main EB-3 row covers skilled workers, whose job needs at least two years of training or experience, and professionals with a bachelor’s degree. Most cases start with a PERM labor certification, then a Form I-140 from the employer; the day the Department of Labor accepted the PERM application becomes the priority date. The October 2026 bulletin sets the share at 28.6% of the worldwide employment level, plus numbers unused by EB-1 and EB-2, with a ceiling of 10,000 for the separate Other Workers row.

A step back to open fiscal year 2027

The new fiscal year began with a retreat. The Final Action Date went from September 1, 2024 in September 2026 to May 15, 2024 in October, about 4 months, and the Date for Filing from Current (C) to August 1, 2024. Seen from further away, the line has been creeping up from a low point: December 1, 2021 in October 2023, November 15, 2022 in October 2024 and April 1, 2023 in October 2025, after six Octobers in a row, 2017 to 2022, when EB-3 was Current for the rest of the world.

The 2007 lesson

The archive holds 15 retrogressions for this row since 2001. The biggest came after the July 2007 bulletin listed EB-3 as Current (C): August read Unavailable (U), and September came back at August 1, 2002, about 59 months behind the summer position. The row did not read Current again until August 2017, ten years later. Why cutoffs retrogress.

EB-2 or EB-3 for the rest of the world

This month the EB-2 worldwide Final Action Date is January 1, 2025, about 8 months ahead of EB-3. The order between the two rows is not fixed, which is why some employers file a second petition in the other preference. The EB-2 to EB-3 calculator puts both dates side by side.

Petition times and what the forecast can say

In the September 2026 USCIS release, an EB-3 Form I-140 for a skilled worker or professional took 4 to 8 months, against 9 to 15 months for an Other Workers petition. For the bulletin wait, our test from October 2012 to October 2025 found a median error of 3 months for dates six months behind the cutoff, with 62 % coverage, enough to publish; a year behind, the error was 5 months against a real wait of about 5, which fails our rule. A licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative can review a specific job classification.

EB-3 in the October 2026 bulletin

USCIS asks applicants to use the Dates for Filing chart this month to file Form I-485.
CountryFinal ActionDates for FilingChange this month
All other countriesMay 15, 2024August 1, 2024▼ 109 days
China (mainland born)January 8, 2022April 1, 2024▲ 7 days
IndiaJanuary 1, 2014January 15, 2015no change
MexicoMay 15, 2024August 1, 2024▼ 109 days
PhilippinesAugust 15, 2023January 1, 2024▲ 14 days
EB-3 All other countries: Final Action cutoff by bulletin month since December 2001200220072012201720222002200620102014201820222026
Solid line: Final Action Date. Dashed line: Dates for Filing (since October 2015). A drop is a retrogression.

Every October since 2002

October opens each federal fiscal year, so it is the cleanest point to compare one year with the next.
BulletinFinal Action DateYears behind the bulletin
October 2002Current (C)–
October 2003Current (C)–
October 2004Current (C)–
October 2005March 1, 20014.6
October 2006May 1, 20024.4
October 2007August 1, 20025.2
October 2008January 1, 20053.7
October 2009Unavailable (U)–
October 2010January 8, 20055.7
October 2011December 8, 20055.8
October 2012Unavailable (U)–
October 2013July 1, 20103.3
October 2014October 1, 20113.0
October 2015August 15, 20150.1
October 2016June 1, 20160.3
October 2017Current (C)–
October 2018Current (C)–
October 2019Current (C)–
October 2020Current (C)–
October 2021Current (C)–
October 2022Current (C)–
October 2023December 1, 20211.8
October 2024November 15, 20221.9
October 2025April 1, 20232.5
October 2026May 15, 20242.4

How our forecast did for this case

Back-test from October 2012 to October 2025, each month using only the bulletins known that month.
Distance behind the cutoffMedian error, our modelMedian error, “last 12 months” ruleRange held the real dateStart months testedPublished?
6 months3 months8 months62 %69Yes
12 months5 months8 months76 %66No reliable forecast
24 months6 months16 months78 %44No reliable forecast
48 months14 months32 months100 %10No reliable forecast

Questions people ask

What is the difference between EB-3 skilled workers and EB-3 Other Workers?

Both are third-preference petitions on Form I-140 backed by a PERM labor certification, but the Visa Bulletin prints them on separate rows. Skilled workers and professionals use the main EB-3 row. Positions classed as Other Workers, which USCIS labels unskilled (EW3), share a statutory ceiling of 10,000 numbers a year and have carried an older cutoff than the main row in recent bulletins.

Why did the EB-3 worldwide date move back in October 2026?

The State Department wrote in the October 2026 bulletin that some rest-of-world employment categories had to retrogress so that issuances stay within the fiscal year 2027 quarterly and annual limits. It does not publish the demand figures behind the change. EB-3 for the rest of the world and EB-3 Other Workers both stepped back that month.

Can someone with an approved EB-2 petition use the EB-3 worldwide date instead?

Only with a new EB-3 Form I-140 filed by the employer. When the approved petitions are for the same person, the earlier priority date can generally carry over to the new petition. Whether this helps depends on which row is ahead in a given month; for rest-of-world applicants EB-3 led from December 2022 and EB-2 took the lead again in July 2023.

Keep going

EB-3 Other Workers

Unskilled EB-3 jobs: a row capped at 10,000 a year, trimmed by NACARA, and running years behind skilled EB-3.

EB-3 Philippines

Filipino skilled workers and nurses: a column that splits from the worldwide date about half the time, and its many reversals.

EB-3 India

Indian skilled workers and professionals: a cutoff that took five years to climb back, and its tug of war with EB-2 India.

EB-2 to EB-3 downgrade

When the EB-3 line for your country is ahead of EB-2, and what moving down a category involves.

I-140 processing time

Immigrant worker petition times for all eight published I-140 categories, next to each category’s Visa Bulletin cutoff.

Official sources and data

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Publisher of Visa Bulletin data, green card wait forecasts, USCIS processing times and 2026 filing fees

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Data for 2026, checked on