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EB-4 special immigrants: a small category with a new queue

Enter the priority date from your approved Form I-360 to see whether an EB-4 visa number is available this month and how the line has moved.

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 DateDecember 15, 2022
Date for FilingJanuary 1, 2025
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-4, the class the law calls certain special immigrants, has a Final Action Date of December 15, 2022 and a Date for Filing of January 1, 2025 for applicants born outside Mexico, and the Mexican column reads December 15, 2022. The class receives 7.1% of the worldwide employment-based level. Its religious-worker row follows the same dates, and the October 2026 bulletin reports that H.R. 6500, signed on September 2, 2026, extends that program through December 11, 2026. For two decades EB-4 needed no queue at all: every October bulletin in the archive from 2002 to 2022 listed it as Current. A cutoff appeared in 2023, and every EB-4 bulletin from April to September 2025 listed the class as unavailable. Petitions in this class are filed on Form I-360, which the USCIS report to Congress for August 2026 puts at an average of 10.4 months.

A preference built from many small groups

The fourth preference shares the smallest allotment in the employment table with EB-5: 7.1% of the worldwide level, according to paragraph 5 of the October 2026 bulletin, without the spill-over that EB-1 to EB-3 can receive. It gathers the special immigrants of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The bulletin prints one of them on its own row, certain religious workers, and the same issue carries a note on special immigrant visas for some current and former U.S. government employees abroad under section 101(a)(27)(D). Religious workers and other special immigrants petition on Form I-360, and the USCIS report to Congress for August 2026 puts its average processing time at 10.4 months.

From Current to a cutoff

For most of the archive, the EB-4 priority date did not matter. The worldwide column read Current (C) in October 2022, as in every October bulletin in our archive since 2002. Then the line broke. In April 2023 it went from February 1, 2022 to September 1, 2018, about 41 months in a single bulletin, and October 2023 opened the fiscal year at January 1, 2019. In 2025 the category was listed as unavailable in 6 bulletins, April 2025, May 2025, June 2025, July 2025, August 2025 and September 2025. It came back at July 1, 2020 in October 2025 and stood at December 15, 2022 in October 2026.

The religious-worker row

Certain religious workers have the same Final Action Date and Date for Filing as the rest of EB-4, but their row depends on Congress renewing the program. H.R. 6500, signed on September 2, 2026, extends it through December 11, 2026. Since October 2025, the row was listed as unavailable in October 2025, November 2025 and February 2026, months in which the other EB-4 groups had a date. Around a renewal deadline, this row can change from one bulletin to the next.

Mexico and filing this month

Since October 2015, the Mexican EB-4 column has had its own date in 62 % of bulletins; its largest drop came in July 2016, from Current (C) to January 1, 2010. This month it carries the worldwide date. USCIS currently lets employment-based applicants file Form I-485 under the Dates for Filing chart, January 1, 2025 for EB-4.

A forecast is out of reach here: tested from October 2012 to October 2025, ranges for a date a year behind the cutoff held the real outcome only 4 % of the time, because the line spent most of that period Current and then moved in jumps. For the rules of a given special immigrant group, see a licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative.

EB-4 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 countriesDecember 15, 2022January 1, 2025no change
China (mainland born)December 15, 2022January 1, 2025no change
IndiaDecember 15, 2022January 1, 2025no change
MexicoDecember 15, 2022January 1, 2025no change
PhilippinesDecember 15, 2022January 1, 2025no change
EB-4 All other countries: Final Action cutoff by bulletin month since December 20012002200620102014201820222002200620102014201820222026
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 2005Current (C)–
October 2006Current (C)–
October 2007Current (C)–
October 2008Current (C)–
October 2009Unavailable (U)–
October 2010Current (C)–
October 2011Current (C)–
October 2012Unavailable (U)–
October 2013Current (C)–
October 2014Current (C)–
October 2015Current (C)–
October 2016Current (C)–
October 2017Current (C)–
October 2018Current (C)–
October 2019Current (C)–
October 2020Current (C)–
October 2021Current (C)–
October 2022Current (C)–
October 2023January 1, 20194.7
October 2024January 1, 20213.7
October 2025July 1, 20205.3
October 2026December 15, 20223.8

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 months10 months576 months11 %28No reliable forecast
12 months10 months590 months4 %26No reliable forecast
24 months20 months575 months4 %25No reliable forecast
48 months33 months564 months0 %16No reliable forecast

Questions people ask

Who is covered by the EB-4 special immigrant category?

EB-4 groups the special immigrants defined in the Immigration and Nationality Act. The Visa Bulletin names one group separately, certain religious workers, and its notes cover special immigrant visas for some current and former U.S. government employees abroad. The petition form, Form I-360, is titled for Amerasians, widows or widowers and special immigrants. Eligibility for each group is set by law and is a question for an immigration attorney.

What happens to EB-4 religious workers if the program is not extended?

The religious-worker part of EB-4 runs only for the period Congress sets. The October 2026 bulletin says H.R. 6500 extends it through December 11, 2026, with the same dates as the rest of EB-4. In past bulletins the religious-worker row has been listed as unavailable in months when the other EB-4 groups still had a date.

Why was EB-4 unavailable for most of 2025?

The bulletin uses U to mean that numbers are not authorized for issuance, so no EB-4 green card could be approved in those months, whatever the priority date. Every bulletin from April to September 2025 showed the category that way, and dates returned with the new fiscal year in October 2025. Pending applications were not cancelled; they waited.

Does EB-4 Mexico have a different date from the rest of the world?

At times. Since 2015, the Mexican EB-4 column has differed from the worldwide one in a majority of bulletins, after a sharp drop in July 2016. Since April 2023 the two columns have carried the same date. The tool on this page uses the worldwide column; choose Mexico as the country to check the Mexican line.

Keep going

Employment green card cost

I-140, Asylum Program Fee and the I-485 package for a worker and family, by employer size.

I-485 employment-based

Employment green card adjustment times as USCIS publishes them, field offices against service centers.

Visa retrogression

Why a Visa Bulletin cutoff moves backwards, how often it has happened in each case since 2001, and how long recovery took.

Final Action vs Dates for Filing

Two charts in every Visa Bulletin: which one USCIS lets you file with this month, and what each one decides.

Official sources and data

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Data for 2026, checked on