Visa Bulletin Tracker

F3 — India

Family-sponsored preference · Final Action Dates 15 April 2012 · Dates for Filing 8 December 2012 · July 2026 bulletin

In the July 2026 Visa Bulletin, F3 for India has a Final Action Dates cut-off of 15 April 2012 and a Dates for Filing cut-off of 8 December 2012. The Final Action cut-off has been advancing, so the page shows its measured pace and what that pace would imply for a given priority date — as an estimate, never a prediction. This page carries the full published history State printed for this combination: 280 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 F3, and they are not interchangeable. Both are shown here as printed. India 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.

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 F3 / India in 280 bulletins since December 2001.

Final Action Dates: when would a priority date be reached?

The cut-off to compare against The Final Action Dates cut-off in the July 2026 bulletin is 15 April 2012. A priority date earlier than that has been reached.

The date your petition was filed — it is printed on your I-797 receipt notice. Nothing is sent anywhere: this runs entirely in your browser.

Enter a priority date to compare it against the July 2026 cut-off of 15 April 2012.

Any estimate here is an estimate Estimate only. It projects the cut-off forward at its average pace over the trailing published bulletins and assumes that pace holds. It is not a prediction and not a guarantee: cut-off dates routinely stall, and they can move BACKWARD (retrogress) without warning. Not legal advice.

How fast has this cut-off actually moved?
Measured movement of the Final Action Dates cut-off over its trailing published bulletins. This describes what already happened. It is not a forecast, and it is not what any estimate on this page is computed from.
Window Bulletins used Total movement Average per month
Last 3 bulletins April 2026 – July 2026 3 of 3 carried a measurable move 115 days forward about 38.3 days forward
Last 6 bulletins January 2026 – July 2026 6 of 6 carried a measurable move 220 days forward about 36.7 days forward
Last 12 bulletins July 2025 – July 2026 12 of 12 carried a measurable move 258 days forward about 21.5 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.

Final Action Dates — the full published history December 2001 – July 2026 · 280 published bulletins · cut-offs from 8 May 1996 to 15 April 2012
Final Action Dates: F3, India, December 2001 – July 2026 Final Action Dates for F3, India, December 2001 – July 2026. 280 of 280 published bulletins carry a dated cut-off, ranging from 8 May 1996 to 15 April 2012. 2 retrogressions (the cut-off moving backward) are marked. 4 breaks in the line where months are missing; the line is never drawn across them. C 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 State published a bulletin, but did not list this category: August 2002 to June 2003. The line is not drawn across it. No bulletin in the public record: March 2009. The line is not drawn across it. No bulletin in the public record: September 2009 to November 2009. The line is not drawn across it. No bulletin in the public record: October 2012. The line is not drawn across it. Retrogressed January 2011: 1 June 2002 back to 1 January 2001 (516 days backward) Retrogressed September 2018: 15 June 2006 back to 1 May 2006 (45 days backward) U 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

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 (2)
  • No bulletin in the public record — the line stops rather than crossing it
  • State published a bulletin but did not list this category
Final Action Dates — the 24 most recent of 203 bulletins in which this cut-off changed, newest first. Months in which it held steady are not listed: it held in 77 of the published bulletins. Direction is shown by the ↑ / ↓ glyph and the word, never by colour alone.
Bulletin From To What changed
July 202615 February 201215 April 2012Advanced60 days
May 202622 December 201115 February 2012Advanced55 days
April 20268 September 201122 December 2011Advanced105 days
October 20251 August 20118 September 2011Advanced38 days
July 202522 June 20111 August 2011Advanced40 days
June 20251 April 201122 June 2011Advanced82 days
April 20251 July 20101 April 2011Advanced274 days
January 202515 April 20101 July 2010Advanced77 days
November 20241 April 201015 April 2010Advanced14 days
July 20241 March 20101 April 2010Advanced31 days
June 20241 January 20101 March 2010Advanced59 days
May 20241 October 20091 January 2010Advanced92 days
March 202422 April 20091 October 2009Advanced162 days
January 20248 January 200922 April 2009Advanced104 days
August 202322 December 20088 January 2009Advanced17 days
July 20238 December 200822 December 2008Advanced14 days
May 202322 November 20088 December 2008Advanced16 days
September 20218 November 200822 November 2008Advanced14 days
August 20211 November 20088 November 2008Advanced7 days
July 20211 September 20081 November 2008Advanced61 days
June 202122 August 20081 September 2008Advanced10 days
May 20218 August 200822 August 2008Advanced14 days
April 20211 August 20088 August 2008Advanced7 days
March 202115 July 20081 August 2008Advanced17 days
Show the earlier 179 changes — back to March 2002
The remaining 179 bulletins in which the Final Action Dates cut-off changed, newest first, back to March 2002. 3 of these span more than one month, because State published no bulletin for the months named in the row — the change is real, but it did not happen in a single month, and is not shown as if it did.
Bulletin From To What changed
February 20218 July 200815 July 2008Advanced7 days
January 202115 June 20088 July 2008Advanced23 days
September 20201 June 200815 June 2008Advanced14 days
August 20208 May 20081 June 2008Advanced24 days
July 202015 April 20088 May 2008Advanced23 days
June 202015 March 200815 April 2008Advanced31 days
May 20201 February 200815 March 2008Advanced43 days
April 202015 December 20071 February 2008Advanced48 days
March 202022 November 200715 December 2007Advanced23 days
February 202015 November 200722 November 2007Advanced7 days
January 20208 November 200715 November 2007Advanced7 days
December 201915 October 20078 November 2007Advanced24 days
November 201915 September 200715 October 2007Advanced30 days
October 20191 September 200715 September 2007Advanced14 days
September 201922 June 20071 September 2007Advanced71 days
August 20198 March 200722 June 2007Advanced106 days
July 201922 December 20068 March 2007Advanced76 days
June 20198 November 200622 December 2006Advanced44 days
May 201922 September 20068 November 2006Advanced47 days
April 20198 September 200622 September 2006Advanced14 days
March 201922 August 20068 September 2006Advanced17 days
February 201915 August 200622 August 2006Advanced7 days
January 20191 August 200615 August 2006Advanced14 days
December 20188 July 20061 August 2006Advanced24 days
November 201815 June 20068 July 2006Advanced23 days
October 20181 May 200615 June 2006Advanced45 days
September 201815 June 20061 May 2006Retrogressed45 days
August 20181 May 200615 June 2006Advanced45 days
July 201815 March 20061 May 2006Advanced47 days
June 20181 February 200615 March 2006Advanced42 days
May 20188 January 20061 February 2006Advanced24 days
April 201815 December 20058 January 2006Advanced24 days
March 201815 November 200515 December 2005Advanced30 days
February 20188 October 200515 November 2005Advanced38 days
January 20188 September 20058 October 2005Advanced30 days
December 201715 August 20058 September 2005Advanced24 days
November 201722 July 200515 August 2005Advanced24 days
October 20178 July 200522 July 2005Advanced14 days
July 20171 July 20058 July 2005Advanced7 days
June 201715 June 20051 July 2005Advanced16 days
May 201715 May 200515 June 2005Advanced31 days
April 201722 April 200515 May 2005Advanced23 days
March 201722 March 200522 April 2005Advanced31 days
February 20171 March 200522 March 2005Advanced21 days
January 201715 February 20051 March 2005Advanced14 days
December 201622 January 200515 February 2005Advanced24 days
November 201622 December 200422 January 2005Advanced31 days
October 20161 December 200422 December 2004Advanced21 days
May 201622 November 20041 December 2004Advanced9 days
April 201615 October 200422 November 2004Advanced38 days
March 20161 October 200415 October 2004Advanced14 days
February 20161 August 20041 October 2004Advanced61 days
January 20161 July 20041 August 2004Advanced31 days
December 201515 June 20041 July 2004Advanced16 days
November 201522 May 200415 June 2004Advanced24 days
October 20158 May 200422 May 2004Advanced14 days
September 20158 April 20048 May 2004Advanced30 days
August 201515 March 20048 April 2004Advanced24 days
July 201522 February 200415 March 2004Advanced22 days
May 20158 February 200422 February 2004Advanced14 days
April 201522 January 20048 February 2004Advanced17 days
March 20151 January 200422 January 2004Advanced21 days
February 201522 December 20031 January 2004Advanced10 days
January 201515 December 200322 December 2003Advanced7 days
December 20148 December 200315 December 2003Advanced7 days
November 20141 December 20038 December 2003Advanced7 days
October 201415 November 20031 December 2003Advanced16 days
August 201415 October 200315 November 2003Advanced31 days
July 20141 October 200315 October 2003Advanced14 days
June 20141 September 20031 October 2003Advanced30 days
May 201415 July 20031 September 2003Advanced48 days
April 201415 June 200315 July 2003Advanced30 days
March 201415 May 200315 June 2003Advanced31 days
February 201415 April 200315 May 2003Advanced30 days
January 20148 March 200315 April 2003Advanced38 days
December 20138 February 20038 March 2003Advanced28 days
November 201322 January 20038 February 2003Advanced17 days
September 20138 December 200222 January 2003Advanced45 days
August 20131 October 20028 December 2002Advanced68 days
July 20131 September 20021 October 2002Advanced30 days
June 20138 August 20021 September 2002Advanced24 days
May 201322 July 20028 August 2002Advanced17 days
April 201315 July 200222 July 2002Advanced7 days
March 20138 July 200215 July 2002Advanced7 days
February 201322 June 20028 July 2002Advanced16 days
January 20138 June 200222 June 2002Advanced14 days
December 20121 June 20028 June 2002Advanced7 days
November 2012 over 2 months, from the September 2012 bulletin — no bulletin was published for October 201215 May 20021 June 2002Advanced17 days
September 20121 May 200215 May 2002Advanced14 days
August 201215 April 20021 May 2002Advanced16 days
July 20121 April 200215 April 2002Advanced14 days
June 20128 March 20021 April 2002Advanced24 days
May 201215 February 20028 March 2002Advanced21 days
April 20121 January 200215 February 2002Advanced45 days
March 20121 December 20011 January 2002Advanced31 days
February 20121 November 20011 December 2001Advanced30 days
January 20128 October 20011 November 2001Advanced24 days
December 201122 September 20018 October 2001Advanced16 days
November 20118 September 200122 September 2001Advanced14 days
October 201122 August 20018 September 2001Advanced17 days
August 201115 July 200122 August 2001Advanced38 days
July 20111 June 200115 July 2001Advanced44 days
June 20111 May 20011 June 2001Advanced31 days
May 201115 March 20011 May 2001Advanced47 days
April 20111 January 200115 March 2001Advanced73 days
January 20111 June 20021 January 2001Retrogressed516 days
November 20101 May 20021 June 2002Advanced31 days
October 20101 March 20021 May 2002Advanced61 days
September 20101 January 20021 March 2002Advanced59 days
August 20101 September 20011 January 2002Advanced122 days
July 201022 June 20011 September 2001Advanced71 days
June 20108 June 200122 June 2001Advanced14 days
May 201022 May 20018 June 2001Advanced17 days
December 2009 over 4 months, from the August 2009 bulletin — no bulletin was published for September 2009, October 2009, November 20091 November 200022 May 2001Advanced202 days
August 200922 October 20001 November 2000Advanced10 days
July 20098 October 200022 October 2000Advanced14 days
June 20098 September 20008 October 2000Advanced30 days
May 200922 August 20008 September 2000Advanced17 days
April 2009 over 2 months, from the February 2009 bulletin — no bulletin was published for March 20091 August 200022 August 2000Advanced21 days
January 200922 July 20001 August 2000Advanced10 days
December 20081 July 200022 July 2000Advanced21 days
November 200822 June 20001 July 2000Advanced9 days
October 200815 June 200022 June 2000Advanced7 days
September 20088 June 200015 June 2000Advanced7 days
May 200822 May 20008 June 2000Advanced17 days
April 200815 May 200022 May 2000Advanced7 days
March 20088 May 200015 May 2000Advanced7 days
January 20088 April 20008 May 2000Advanced30 days
December 20071 March 20008 April 2000Advanced38 days
November 200715 February 20001 March 2000Advanced15 days
October 20071 January 200015 February 2000Advanced45 days
September 20071 October 19991 January 2000Advanced92 days
August 200715 July 19991 October 1999Advanced78 days
July 200715 May 199915 July 1999Advanced61 days
June 20071 April 199915 May 1999Advanced44 days
May 200722 March 19991 April 1999Advanced10 days
April 20071 March 199922 March 1999Advanced21 days
March 20071 February 19991 March 1999Advanced28 days
February 20071 January 19991 February 1999Advanced31 days
January 20078 December 19981 January 1999Advanced24 days
December 200615 November 19988 December 1998Advanced23 days
November 200622 October 199815 November 1998Advanced24 days
October 20061 October 199822 October 1998Advanced21 days
September 20068 September 19981 October 1998Advanced23 days
August 200622 August 19988 September 1998Advanced17 days
July 20061 August 199822 August 1998Advanced21 days
June 200622 July 19981 August 1998Advanced10 days
March 200615 July 199822 July 1998Advanced7 days
February 20061 July 199815 July 1998Advanced14 days
January 20068 June 19981 July 1998Advanced23 days
December 20058 May 19988 June 1998Advanced31 days
November 200515 April 19988 May 1998Advanced23 days
October 200515 March 199815 April 1998Advanced31 days
September 20051 February 199815 March 1998Advanced42 days
July 200522 January 19981 February 1998Advanced10 days
April 200515 January 199822 January 1998Advanced7 days
March 20058 January 199815 January 1998Advanced7 days
February 200522 December 19978 January 1998Advanced17 days
January 20051 December 199722 December 1997Advanced21 days
December 20048 November 19971 December 1997Advanced23 days
November 200422 October 19978 November 1997Advanced17 days
October 200415 October 199722 October 1997Advanced7 days
May 20048 October 199715 October 1997Advanced7 days
April 20041 October 19978 October 1997Advanced7 days
March 200415 September 19971 October 1997Advanced16 days
February 200422 August 199715 September 1997Advanced24 days
January 200415 August 199722 August 1997Advanced7 days
December 20031 August 199715 August 1997Advanced14 days
November 20031 July 19971 August 1997Advanced31 days
October 20038 June 19971 July 1997Advanced23 days
September 20031 May 19978 June 1997Advanced38 days
August 200315 April 19971 May 1997Advanced16 days
July 2003not published15 April 1997First published
August 200222 July 1996not publishedLeft the chart
July 20028 July 199622 July 1996Advanced14 days
June 200222 June 19968 July 1996Advanced16 days
May 20021 June 199622 June 1996Advanced21 days
April 200215 May 19961 June 1996Advanced17 days
March 20028 May 199615 May 1996Advanced7 days

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 cut-off to compare against The Dates for Filing cut-off in the July 2026 bulletin is 8 December 2012. A priority date earlier than that has been reached.

The date your petition was filed — it is printed on your I-797 receipt notice. Nothing is sent anywhere: this runs entirely in your browser.

Enter a priority date to compare it against the July 2026 cut-off of 8 December 2012.

Any estimate here is an estimate Estimate only. It projects the cut-off forward at its average pace over the trailing published bulletins and assumes that pace holds. It is not a prediction and not a guarantee: cut-off dates routinely stall, and they can move BACKWARD (retrogress) without warning. Not legal advice.

How fast has this cut-off actually moved?
Measured movement of the Dates for Filing cut-off over its trailing published bulletins. This describes what already happened. It is not a forecast, and it is not what any estimate on this page is computed from.
Window Bulletins used Total movement Average per month
Last 3 bulletins April 2026 – July 2026 3 of 3 carried a measurable move 16 days forward about 5.3 days forward
Last 6 bulletins January 2026 – July 2026 6 of 6 carried a measurable move 139 days forward about 23.2 days forward
Last 12 bulletins July 2025 – July 2026 12 of 12 carried a measurable move 139 days forward about 11.6 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.

Dates for Filing — the full published history October 2015 – July 2026 · 130 published bulletins · cut-offs from 1 April 2005 to 8 December 2012
Dates for Filing: F3, India, October 2015 – July 2026 Dates for Filing for F3, India, October 2015 – July 2026. 130 of 130 published bulletins carry a dated cut-off, ranging from 1 April 2005 to 8 December 2012. C 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 U 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026

Every published cut-off is on the line above; the table below lists every month it moved.

  • Published cut-off date
Dates for Filing — the 24 most recent of 44 bulletins in which this cut-off changed, newest first. Months in which it held steady are not listed: it held in 86 of the published bulletins. Direction is shown by the ↑ / ↓ glyph and the word, never by colour alone.
Bulletin From To What changed
May 202622 November 20128 December 2012Advanced16 days
April 202622 July 201222 November 2012Advanced123 days
January 202522 April 201222 July 2012Advanced91 days
November 20241 July 201122 April 2012Advanced296 days
October 20241 January 20111 July 2011Advanced181 days
August 20241 October 20101 January 2011Advanced92 days
July 20241 September 20101 October 2010Advanced30 days
June 20241 June 20101 September 2010Advanced92 days
May 20241 March 20101 June 2010Advanced92 days
July 20238 February 20101 March 2010Advanced21 days
May 20238 November 20098 February 2010Advanced92 days
August 20221 October 20098 November 2009Advanced38 days
July 202222 August 20091 October 2009Advanced40 days
July 20211 August 200922 August 2009Advanced21 days
June 202122 June 20091 August 2009Advanced40 days
February 20211 June 200922 June 2009Advanced21 days
September 20208 May 20091 June 2009Advanced24 days
August 202015 April 20098 May 2009Advanced23 days
July 202015 March 200915 April 2009Advanced31 days
June 202015 December 200815 March 2009Advanced90 days
May 20201 October 200815 December 2008Advanced75 days
April 202015 August 20081 October 2008Advanced47 days
March 202022 July 200815 August 2008Advanced24 days
February 202015 July 200822 July 2008Advanced7 days
Show the earlier 20 changes — back to October 2015
The remaining 20 bulletins in which the Dates for Filing cut-off changed, newest first, back to October 2015.
Bulletin From To What changed
January 202015 May 200815 July 2008Advanced61 days
December 201915 April 200815 May 2008Advanced30 days
November 201915 March 200815 April 2008Advanced31 days
October 201922 January 200815 March 2008Advanced53 days
September 201922 December 200722 January 2008Advanced31 days
August 20198 September 200722 December 2007Advanced105 days
July 201922 August 20078 September 2007Advanced17 days
June 201922 June 200722 August 2007Advanced61 days
May 201922 April 200722 June 2007Advanced61 days
April 20191 March 200722 April 2007Advanced52 days
March 20191 February 20071 March 2007Advanced28 days
February 20198 January 20071 February 2007Advanced24 days
October 201822 September 20068 January 2007Advanced108 days
July 20188 September 200622 September 2006Advanced14 days
May 20181 September 20068 September 2006Advanced7 days
April 20181 December 20051 September 2006Advanced274 days
May 201722 August 20051 December 2005Advanced101 days
August 20161 August 200522 August 2005Advanced21 days
January 20161 April 20051 August 2005Advanced122 days
October 2015not published1 April 2005First 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 India has its own column

Chargeability is normally your country of birth — not your citizenship or where you live. State gives India 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.

Where F3 sits among the family preferences

Family-sponsored preference categories run F1 through F4, and they are separate queues with separate annual limits: F1 (unmarried adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens), F2A (spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents), F2B (unmarried adult sons and daughters of permanent residents), F3 (married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens) and F4 (brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens). Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens — spouses, minor children and parents — are not subject to these limits and do not appear in the Visa Bulletin at all.

Frequently asked questions

What is the F3 priority date cut-off for India in the July 2026 Visa Bulletin?
The Final Action Dates cut-off is 15 April 2012 and the Dates for Filing cut-off is 8 December 2012. State printed those cells as "15APR12" and "08DEC12". A priority date earlier than 15 April 2012 has been reached in the Final Action chart.
What is the difference between Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing for F3?
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 F3 and India in the July 2026 bulletin they read 15 April 2012 and 8 December 2012 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 F3 cut-off for India 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 2 times in the published record — 2 in the Final Action Dates chart and 0 in the Dates for Filing chart. The largest was in January 2011, when the Final Action cut-off moved back from 1 June 2002 to 1 January 2001 — 516 days, or about 1.4 years, in a single bulletin.
When will a priority date in F3 become current for India?
Nobody can tell you that, and this site does not claim to. What can be measured is the pace: over the trailing published bulletins the Final Action Dates cut-off has advanced by an average of about 21.5 days per bulletin. The tool on this page projects the published cut-off of 15 April 2012 forward at that pace to estimate which bulletin would reach a given priority date. That is an estimate and assumes the pace holds. It is not a prediction and not a guarantee: cut-off dates routinely stall, and they can move backward without warning. This is not legal advice.
Where does this F3 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 280 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 410 published cut-off cells for F3 / India and 247 recorded changes across both charts. Each cell is stored with the exact text State printed for it (the 15APR12 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.

All 75 categories in the July 2026 bulletin →