EB-2 — Philippines
In the July 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-2 for Philippines has a Final Action Dates cut-off of Current and a Dates for Filing cut-off of Current. EB-2 is Current for Philippines in this bulletin: State is acting on every priority date in the category, so there is no cut-off to wait for. This page carries the full published history State printed for this combination: 291 Final Action Dates bulletins back to December 2001, and 130 Dates for Filing bulletins back to October 2015 — every cut-off, every month it moved, and the exact text State printed in each cell. It reports what was published; it is not legal advice.
Source bulletin July 2026 U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs — Visa Bulletin. A work of the U.S. Government, in the public domain (17 U.S.C. §105). Every figure below is the one State printed, kept with its exact source text.
The July 2026 cut-offs
State publishes two charts for EB-2, and they are not interchangeable. Both are shown here as printed. Philippines has its own column because demand from applicants chargeable there exceeds the per-country limit, so its cut-offs are usually further behind than the "all other countries" column.
- Final Action Dates
Current
When a visa can actually be issued. From the July 2026 bulletin · State printed this cell as C
- Dates for Filing
Current
When the application may be submitted. From the July 2026 bulletin · State printed this cell as C
This is not legal advice This page republishes cut-off dates exactly as the State Department published them. It cannot tell you what will happen to your case, and being current in a chart is not the same as a visa being issued. Cut-off dates routinely stall, and they can move backward without warning. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed immigration attorney.
Final Action Dates
The chart that decides whether a visa can be issued. State has published a Final Action Dates figure for EB-2 / Philippines in 291 bulletins since December 2001.
Final Action Dates: when would a priority date be reached?
The answer for every priority date This category is Current in the July 2026 bulletin. There is no backlog and no cut-off to wait for, so every priority date in it is being acted on now. This category is CURRENT in the newest bulletin: there is no backlog, so any priority date is current now. No projection is needed.
How fast has this cut-off actually moved?
| Window | Bulletins used | Total movement | Average per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last 3 bulletins April 2026 – July 2026 | 0 of 3 carried a measurable move | nothing measurable | not measurable |
| Last 6 bulletins January 2026 – July 2026 | 2 of 6 carried a measurable move | 197 days forward | about 98.5 days forward |
| Last 12 bulletins July 2025 – July 2026 | 8 of 12 carried a measurable move | 366 days forward | about 45.8 days forward |
This table describes what already happened; it is not a forecast and it is not what any estimate on this page is computed from. A pace can be zero, or negative when the cut-off has been moving backward, and some windows have nothing measurable in them at all — a category that spent the window Current or Unavailable has no distance to average. A category State has stopped moving can also keep showing a pace from a window that closed years ago, which describes that window and nothing since.
Every published cut-off is on the line above; the table below lists every month it moved.
- Published cut-off date
- Retrogression — the cut-off moved backward (3)
- C — Current: no backlog. Not a date, so it is not on the line
- U — Unavailable: no visas issued. Not a date either
- No bulletin in the public record — the line stops rather than crossing it
| Bulletin | From | To | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 | 15 October 2024 | Current | Became Current |
| March 2026 | 1 April 2024 | 15 October 2024 | Advanced197 days |
| January 2026 | 1 February 2024 | 1 April 2024 | Advanced60 days |
| December 2025 | 1 December 2023 | 1 February 2024 | Advanced62 days |
| October 2025 | 1 September 2023 | 1 December 2023 | Advanced91 days |
| August 2025 | 15 October 2023 | 1 September 2023 | Retrogressed44 days |
| June 2025 | 22 June 2023 | 15 October 2023 | Advanced115 days |
| April 2025 | 15 May 2023 | 22 June 2023 | Advanced38 days |
| March 2025 | 1 April 2023 | 15 May 2023 | Advanced44 days |
| January 2025 | 15 March 2023 | 1 April 2023 | Advanced17 days |
| July 2024 | 15 January 2023 | 15 March 2023 | Advanced59 days |
| April 2024 | 22 November 2022 | 15 January 2023 | Advanced54 days |
| March 2024 | 15 November 2022 | 22 November 2022 | Advanced7 days |
| February 2024 | 1 November 2022 | 15 November 2022 | Advanced14 days |
| January 2024 | 15 July 2022 | 1 November 2022 | Advanced109 days |
| November 2023 | 8 July 2022 | 15 July 2022 | Advanced7 days |
| October 2023 | 1 July 2022 | 8 July 2022 | Advanced7 days |
| September 2023 | 1 April 2022 | 1 July 2022 | Advanced91 days |
| August 2023 | 15 February 2022 | 1 April 2022 | Advanced45 days |
| May 2023 | 1 July 2022 | 15 February 2022 | Retrogressed136 days |
| April 2023 | 1 November 2022 | 1 July 2022 | Retrogressed123 days |
| December 2022 | Current | 1 November 2022 | Retrogressed from Current |
| October 2019 | 1 January 2018 | Current | Became Current |
| September 2019 | 1 January 2017 | 1 January 2018 | Advanced365 days |
Show the earlier 13 changes — back to August 2007
| Bulletin | From | To | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 2019 | Current | 1 January 2017 | Retrogressed from Current |
| October 2018 | 1 January 2013 | Current | Became Current |
| September 2018 | Current | 1 January 2013 | Retrogressed from Current |
| October 2017 | 1 January 2016 | Current | Became Current |
| September 2017 | 1 April 2015 | 1 January 2016 | Advanced275 days |
| August 2017 | Current | 1 April 2015 | Retrogressed from Current |
| October 2016 | 1 February 2014 | Current | Became Current |
| August 2016 | Current | 1 February 2014 | Retrogressed from Current |
| November 2012 over 2 months, from the September 2012 bulletin — no bulletin was published for October 2012 | 1 January 2009 | Current | Became Current |
| July 2012 | Current | 1 January 2009 | Retrogressed from Current |
| October 2007 | 1 January 2007 | Current | Became Current |
| September 2007 | Unavailable | 1 January 2007 | Became available again |
| August 2007 | Current | Unavailable | Current to Unavailable |
Dates for Filing
The chart that decides when an application may be submitted — usually the more optimistic of the two. It did not exist before October 2015, so its history is shorter by design, not by omission: 130 bulletins since October 2015.
Dates for Filing: when would a priority date be reached?
The answer for every priority date This category is Current in the July 2026 bulletin. There is no backlog and no cut-off to wait for, so every priority date in it is being acted on now. This category is CURRENT in the newest bulletin: there is no backlog, so any priority date is current now. No projection is needed.
How fast has this cut-off actually moved?
| Window | Bulletins used | Total movement | Average per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last 3 bulletins April 2026 – July 2026 | 0 of 3 carried a measurable move | nothing measurable | not measurable |
| Last 6 bulletins January 2026 – July 2026 | 1 of 6 carried a measurable move | 0 days | not measurable |
| Last 12 bulletins July 2025 – July 2026 | 7 of 12 carried a measurable move | 335 days forward | about 47.9 days forward |
This table describes what already happened; it is not a forecast and it is not what any estimate on this page is computed from. A pace can be zero, or negative when the cut-off has been moving backward, and some windows have nothing measurable in them at all — a category that spent the window Current or Unavailable has no distance to average. A category State has stopped moving can also keep showing a pace from a window that closed years ago, which describes that window and nothing since.
Every published cut-off is on the line above; the table below lists every month it moved.
- Published cut-off date
- C — Current: no backlog. Not a date, so it is not on the line
| Bulletin | From | To | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2026 | 15 October 2024 | Current | Became Current |
| January 2026 | 15 July 2024 | 15 October 2024 | Advanced92 days |
| October 2025 | 15 November 2023 | 15 July 2024 | Advanced243 days |
| June 2025 | 1 August 2023 | 15 November 2023 | Advanced106 days |
| October 2024 | 22 March 2023 | 1 August 2023 | Advanced132 days |
| July 2024 | 15 February 2023 | 22 March 2023 | Advanced35 days |
| January 2024 | 1 January 2023 | 15 February 2023 | Advanced45 days |
| October 2023 | 1 December 2022 | 1 January 2023 | Advanced31 days |
| December 2022 | Current | 1 December 2022 | Retrogressed from Current |
| October 2015 | not published | Current | First published |
How to read this page
What a priority date is
A priority date is the date that fixes your place in the queue for an immigrant visa number. For most family-sponsored categories it is the date the petition was filed; for employment-based categories that require labour certification, it is the date that certification was filed. It is printed on the I-797 receipt or approval notice. Your priority date does not move — the cut-off moves toward it.
Congress caps how many immigrant visas may be issued each year, both in total per category and per country of chargeability. When more people want a category than the cap allows, a queue forms, and State publishes a cut-off date each month: the priority date it has reached. If your priority date is earlier than the cut-off, your turn has come in that chart.
Why Philippines has its own column
Chargeability is normally your country of birth — not your citizenship or where you live. State gives Philippines its own column because demand from applicants chargeable there exceeds the per-country limit, so its queue is tracked separately and its cut-offs are usually further behind than the "all other countries" column. Applicants from countries without their own column are all counted together in that column instead.
The two charts are not interchangeable
Final Action Dates is when a visa can actually be issued or a green card approved. Dates for Filing is when the application may be submitted; it is usually the earlier and more optimistic of the two, and being past it does not mean a visa can be issued. Which chart U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will accept for adjustment-of-status filings is announced by USCIS each month and is not decided by State or by this site. The Dates for Filing chart was introduced in October 2015 and does not exist for any earlier bulletin.
What Current and Unavailable mean
Current (printed C) means there is no backlog at all: every priority date in the category is being acted on. Unavailable (printed U) means no visas are being issued in the category at all that month — usually because the annual limit has been reached. Neither is a date, and neither can be compared to one, so this site never plots them on a date axis and never projects from them.
Retrogression: the cut-off can move backward
A cut-off is not a promise and does not only move forward. When more people apply than the annual limit allows — often after a period of rapid advancement draws in filings — State pulls the cut-off back to an earlier date. This is called retrogression, and it can undo years of progress in a single bulletin. It has happened 359 times across the whole published record this site holds. The largest on record is F3 for Mexico in August 2006, which moved back 12.79 years in one month. Retrogressions on this page are marked on the chart with a ▼ mark and listed in the movement tables with a ↓ glyph — never by colour alone.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the EB-2 priority date cut-off for Philippines in the July 2026 Visa Bulletin?
- The Final Action Dates cut-off is Current and the Dates for Filing cut-off is Current. State printed those cells as "C" and "C". Current means there is no backlog at all in this category: every priority date in it is being acted on.
- What is the difference between Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing for EB-2?
- They answer different questions and they are not interchangeable. Final Action Dates is when a visa can actually be issued or a green card approved. Dates for Filing is when the application may be submitted — it is usually the earlier and more optimistic of the two, and being past it does not mean a visa can be issued. For EB-2 and Philippines in the July 2026 bulletin they read Current and Current respectively. Which chart U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services accepts for adjustment-of-status filings is announced by USCIS each month and is not decided by this site. The Dates for Filing chart did not exist before October 2015.
- What is a priority date?
- A priority date is the date that fixes your place in the queue for a visa number. For most family-sponsored and employment-based categories it is the date the petition was filed with the government (for employment categories requiring labour certification, it is the date that certification was filed). It is printed on the I-797 receipt or approval notice. The Visa Bulletin publishes a cut-off date each month for each category and country of chargeability; if your priority date is earlier than the cut-off, your turn has come in that chart. Your priority date never changes on its own — the cut-off moves toward it.
- Has the EB-2 cut-off for Philippines ever moved backward?
- Yes. Moving backward is called retrogression, and it happens when more people apply in a category than the annual limit allows, forcing State to pull the cut-off back to an earlier date. This combination has retrogressed 11 times in the published record — 10 in the Final Action Dates chart and 1 in the Dates for Filing chart. The largest was in May 2023, when the Final Action cut-off moved back from 1 July 2022 to 15 February 2022 — 136 days, or about 0.4 years, in a single bulletin.
- When will a priority date in EB-2 become current for Philippines?
- It already is. This category is Current for Philippines in the July 2026 bulletin, which means there is no backlog and no cut-off to wait for — every priority date in it is being acted on now. Whether it stays that way is a different question, and one no honest reading of this data can answer.
- Where does this EB-2 history come from, and how far back does it go?
- Every figure is the one the U.S. Department of State printed in its monthly Visa Bulletin, kept alongside the exact cell text it came from. This page carries 291 Final Action Dates bulletins back to December 2001 and 130 Dates for Filing bulletins back to October 2015. The Visa Bulletin is a work of the U.S. Government and is in the public domain (17 U.S.C. section 105). 5 months are absent from the public record in that span (March 2009, September 2009, October 2009, November 2009, October 2012); they are shown as a break in the chart and are never filled in from a neighbouring month.
Source and method
Every figure on this page is read from the U.S. Department of State's monthly Visa Bulletin — the July 2026 edition for the current cut-offs, and each bulletin's own edition for the history. The Visa Bulletin is a work of the U.S. Government prepared by federal employees in the course of their duties, and is therefore in the public domain under 17 U.S.C. §105. This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the U.S. Department of State or any government agency.
This page carries 421 published cut-off cells for EB-2 / Philippines and 47 recorded changes across both charts. Each cell is stored with the exact text State printed for it (the C shown above is the source's own), so every figure here is traceable back to the bulletin it came from.
5 months in the December 2001 to July 2026 span are absent from the public record — March 2009, September 2009, October 2009, November 2009, October 2012. They are recorded as gaps and shown as breaks in the charts above, never filled in from a neighbouring month.
Data version visa-bulletin-derived-v1 · 291 bulletins, December 2001 to July 2026 · Next monthly bulletin. The State Department publishes one bulletin per month, typically mid-month for the following month; past bulletins are immutable once published.