The Department of State (DOS) has issued the August 2025 Visa Bulletin. The August bulletin reflects slowed movement in family-based preference categories and notable retrogression in several employment-based categories, including EB-2 for Worldwide, Mexico, and the Philippines.
USCIS has confirmed it will continue using the Dates for Filing Chart for family-based cases in August, while employment-based applicants must rely on the Final Action Dates Chart.
Key Highlights from the August 2025 Visa Bulletin
Employment-Based Immigrant Visa Categories
- EB-2 Final Action Dates retrogressed by six weeks for Worldwide, Mexico, and the Philippines, from October 15, 2023, to September 1, 2023.
- EB-3 Final Action Dates for India advanced one month, from April 22, 2013, to May 22, 2013.
- Other Workers for India also moved forward by one month, matching EB-3 movement.
- EB-5 (Unreserved) Final Action Dates saw significant advancement:
- India: advanced over six months, from May 1, 2019, to November 15, 2019.
- China: moved forward by over 1 year and 10 months, from January 22, 2014, to December 8, 2015.
- All other employment-based categories remain unchanged, with no movement on the Dates for Filing Chart.
- EB-4 category remains unavailable for all countries, as it has been since April 2025.
Family-Based Immigrant Visa Categories
- F2A Final Action Dates remain unchanged from July:
- Worldwide, China, India, Philippines: September 1, 2022
- Mexico: February 1, 2022
- F2A Dates for Filing Advanced by one month, from March 1, 2025, to April 1, 2025.
- F4 Final Action Date for India moved forward almost four months, from July 8, 2006, to November 1, 2006.
- F4 Dates for Filing for Worldwide and China advanced over three months, from September 8, 2008, to January 1, 2009.
- No other movement was observed in the family-based categories.
- USCIS will continue to require use of the Dates for Filing Chart for all family-based filings in August 2025.
Diversity Visa Updates
The bulletin also includes August 2025 diversity visa (DV) availability by region and country, along with the DV cutoff numbers to be used in August.
DOS Future Projections
For the first time in months, the Department of State has issued guidance on future visa number availability:
- Due to high demand and increased number usage, EB-2 visa numbers for Worldwide, Mexico, and the Philippinesare likely to reach the annual limit in August, possibly even sooner.
- Once the annual limit is reached, the EB-2 category will become “unavailable,” and no further visa numbers will be allocated for FY-2025.
- EB-3 and Other Workercategories are also approaching their annual caps. DOS warns of a potential need to either retrogress Final Action Dates or make the categories unavailable in September 2025 or earlier.
For further updates or guidance on how these changes may impact your immigration filings, please contact one of our offices in Chicago, IL, Naperville, IL, Raleigh, NC, or Clark, NJ, for guidance.
At HSD Immigration Lawyer, we specialize in complex employment– investment- and family-basedimmigration matters.