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EXPLAINER · EVERY RULE QUOTED FROM AN OFFICIAL SOURCE · CHECKED OCTOBER 17, 2026

Visa retrogression

Why a Visa Bulletin cutoff date can move backward, what "C" and "U" mean, and what happens when a new fiscal year starts on October 1.

Cutoff dates in the Visa Bulletin do not only move forward. Sometimes a date that was current one month is not current the next, or the cutoff moves back to an earlier date. USCIS calls this visa retrogression.[1]

Why it happens

Family and employment preference green cards have a fixed yearly supply.[2]

Each month the State Department hands out the available visa numbers, as far as possible, in order of priority date.[3]

USCIS says retrogression generally happens when a category's or country's yearly limit has been used up, or is expected to run out soon.[4]

The bulletin explains how this plays out in the monthly allocation: if a final action date has to move back, only requests with a priority date inside the new, earlier date are honored.[5]

USCIS says a visa must be available before one of the last steps toward permanent residence.[6]

What "C" and "U" mean

A chart cell shows either a date or a letter. A date means the category is oversubscribed: not all demand could be met.[7][8]

  • C means current: visas are available right away to every qualified applicant in that category and country, whatever their priority date.[9]
  • U means unauthorized: no visa numbers can be issued in that category and/or country for now.[10][11]
  • The bulletin says a category would be made unavailable at once if its yearly limit were reached.[12]

The new fiscal year on October 1

A new fiscal year begins on October 1, and a new supply of visa numbers becomes available then.[13]

USCIS says the new supply usually, but not always, brings cutoff dates back to where they were before retrogression.[14]

On the State Department's bulletin page, the October 2026 bulletin is listed under fiscal year 2027.[15]

A recent example

The October 2026 bulletin said that, with the new year's numbers, dates advanced in various categories, while some employment categories for "Rest of World" countries retrogressed to stay within the year's limits.[16][17]

See it in the data

Past cutoff dates, including months when they moved back, are on the Visa Bulletin history pages.

How the two monthly charts differ is explained in Final Action Dates vs Dates for Filing.

This page explains general rules in plain English. It is not legal advice and does not tell you what applies to your case. Each numbered source below is the official page the sentence comes from; read it before relying on anything here.

Sources

  1. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Sometimes, a priority date that is current one month will not be current the next month, or the cut-off date will move backward to an earlier date. This is called visa retrogression , which occurs when more people apply for a visa in a particular category than there are visas available for that month.”
  2. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Immigrant visas for the family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant preference categories are numerically limited, so they are not always immediately available.”
  3. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “Allocations in the charts below were made, to the extent possible, in chronological order of reported priority dates”
  4. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Visa retrogression generally occurs when the annual limit for a category or country has been exhausted or is expected to run out soon.”
  5. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “If it becomes necessary during the monthly allocation process to retrogress a final action date, supplemental requests for numbers will be honored only if the priority date falls within the new final action date announced in this bulletin.”
  6. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “A visa must be available before you can take one of the final steps in the process of becoming a lawful permanent resident.”
  7. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “On the chart below, the listing of a date for any class indicates that the class is oversubscribed”
  8. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “If not all demand could be satisfied, the category or foreign state in which demand was excessive was deemed oversubscribed.”
  9. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “the Visa Bulletin shows that category as “C,” meaning that immigrant visas are currently (immediately) available to all qualified adjustment of status applicants and overseas immigrant visa applicants”
  10. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “means unauthorized, i.e., numbers are not authorized for issuance”
  11. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “If the Visa Bulletin shows “U” in a category, this means that immigrant visas are temporarily unavailable to all applicants in that particular preference category and/or country of chargeability.”
  12. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “If at any time an annual limit were reached, it would be necessary to immediately make the preference category “unavailable”, and no further requests for numbers would be honored.”
  13. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “When the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, a new supply of visa numbers becomes available.”
  14. USCIS, Visa Availability and Priority Dates. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Usually, but not always, the new supply returns the cut-off dates to where they were before retrogression.”
  15. U.S. Department of State, The Visa Bulletin. Last checked October 18, 2026.
    “Fiscal Year 2027 Visa Bulletins Visa Bulletin For October 2026”
  16. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “With the availability of FY 2027 immigrant visa numbers, dates for filing and final action dates have advanced across various immigrant visa categories.”
  17. U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for October 2026. Last checked October 17, 2026.
    “However, some employment-based visa categories for “Rest of World” countries have retrogressed, and these retrogressions are necessary to keep visa issuances within FY 2027 quarterly and annual limits.”

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