The September 2026 Visa Bulletin contains a contrast that investors should not read past. In the same chart, one EB-5 category is closed for India while three others are open to every country in the world.
What the Bulletin Shows
On the Final Action Dates chart, EB-5 Unreserved is listed as unavailable for India and stands at December 1, 2016 for China. It is current for all other chargeability areas.
The three reserved categories tell a different story. Rural at 20 percent, high unemployment at 10 percent, and infrastructure at 2 percent are all listed as Current for every column, including China and India, on both the Final Action Dates chart and the Dates for Filing chart.
Why the Reserved Lanes Behave Differently
The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 carved reserved allocations out of the annual EB-5 supply. The bulletin sets the fifth preference at 7.1 percent of the worldwide employment based level, which for Fiscal Year 2026 is 186,317. Of that EB-5 allocation, 32 percent is reserved across the three set aside categories and the remaining 68 percent is unreserved.
Because the reserved numbers sit in separate pools, demand that exhausts the unreserved pool for a given country does not by itself close the reserved lanes. That is the mechanism producing this month’s split.
The Date That Matters More Than the Chart
Investors reading this bulletin have a second deadline in the same month. Under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, qualifying regional center petitions properly filed on or before September 30, 2026 receive statutory protection against a later lapse or expiration of the Regional Center Program. The program itself is currently authorized through September 30, 2027, which is a separate date and a separate question.
Petitions filed after September 30, 2026 do not carry that protection. The direct investor route on Form I-526 does not depend on regional center reauthorization in the same way.
Reading This Correctly
A Current listing describes visa number availability this month. It does not describe petition processing times, which run on their own queue, and it is not a forecast. The bulletin states plainly that demand may require retrogression or unavailability in categories before the fiscal year ends.
Investors weighing project type should understand that the reserved category chosen determines which pool the family later draws from, and that eligibility for a given set aside depends on the project, not on preference.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are EB-5 set aside visas current in September 2026?
Yes. Rural, high unemployment, and infrastructure are listed as Current for all countries on both charts.
Is EB-5 available for India this month?
EB-5 Unreserved is listed as unavailable for India on the Final Action Dates chart. The three reserved categories are Current for India.
What are the set aside percentages?
20 percent rural, 10 percent high unemployment, and 2 percent infrastructure, under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022.
What happens on September 30, 2026?
It is the last day a qualifying regional center petition can be filed and receive statutory grandfathering protection against a future program lapse.
Is that the same as the program expiring?
No. Regional Center Program authorization currently runs through September 30, 2027. The grandfathering filing cutoff is the earlier date.
Can a set aside category close later?
The bulletin warns that categories may be made unavailable if annual, category, or prorated country limits are reached.
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