Immigration Update: October 2026 Visa Bulletin Still Not Published, Three Days Before Fiscal Year 2027 Begins
What changed
Nothing has been published — and that is the point.
As of Monday, September 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of State's Visa Bulletin page lists September 2026 as the current bulletin, and the section for the upcoming bulletin reads only "Coming Soon." There is no October 2026 Visa Bulletin.
Fiscal year 2027 begins Thursday, October 1, 2026. Until the October bulletin posts, the operative bulletin is the September 2026 Visa Bulletin — Number 18, Volume XI — which the Department of State's Visa Office published on August 10, 2026. It governs through September 30, 2026.
To be precise about dates: the September bulletin is not new, and this post is not reporting a new announcement. It is reporting the continued absence of one, confirmed on the Department of State's own page today.
What applicants should know
The September bulletin is not a quiet placeholder. It carries three warnings in its own words, and they run out with the fiscal year.
1. DV-2026 ends September 30. The bulletin states that "DV visas may not be issued to DV-2026 applicants after" September 30, 2026. That deadline is statutory. It does not move, and it is not affected by whether the October bulletin has posted.
2. EB-1 India may become unavailable. The bulletin states that "High demand and number use by aliens chargeable to India in the EB-1 visa category may necessitate making the category unavailable in the coming weeks if India's pro-rated limit in the EB-1 category is reached before the fiscal year ends."
3. EB-2 and EB-5 unreserved may retrogress. For EB-2, the bulletin states that demand "may make it necessary to retrogress the final action date or make the category unavailable before the end of the fiscal year to hold number use within the maximum allowed." It gives the same warning for the EB-5 unreserved category.
And there are no October dates yet. If you are timing an I-485 filing or a consular immigrant visa interview across the fiscal-year turn, no October final action date or filing date exists to plan against right now. Figures circulating as "October predictions" do not come from the Department of State. Wait for the published bulletin, and confirm it on the State Department page itself.
Who this reaches most directly: DV-2026 selectees and their derivatives, employment-based immigrant visa applicants in EB-1 India, EB-2 and EB-5 unreserved, and anyone whose filing or interview timing falls near October 1.
How we can help
Our team is made up of former U.S. diplomats who spent their careers inside the consular process. In a week like this one, the useful thing is not a forecast — it is a clear read of where your specific case actually stands under the bulletin that is in force today, what the September 30 cutoff does and does not touch in your situation, and what to have ready the moment October numbers publish.
If you are holding a DV-2026 selection, or waiting on an EB priority date, a short consultation now is worth more than a guess later.
Sources
This post is general information, not legal advice, and reflects the Department of State's published pages as of September 28, 2026.
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