EB-1 and EB-2 for China-born applicants: wait times in the October 2026 bulletin

How long do EB-1 and EB-2 applicants born in China wait for a green card? The clearest current answer comes from the USCIS filing chart for October 2026. If you were born in mainland China, you may be able to file your green card application in October 2026 if your priority date is before July 1, 2024 for EB-1, or before January 1, 2023 for EB-2, which includes the national interest waiver (NIW). Approval itself depends on a second date in the State Department's Visa Bulletin, the Final Action Date. This guide sets out the China dates, how they moved over the last year, why China has its own queue, and what you can do while you wait.

What are China's EB-1 and EB-2 dates in October 2026?

The table below uses the USCIS filing chart pages, which reproduce the State Department's Visa Bulletin charts that USCIS has chosen for each month. A priority date is your place in line. For EB-1A and the NIW, it is generally the date your completed, signed Form I-140 petition is properly filed with USCIS; for a PERM case, it is the date the Department of Labor accepted the labor certification (8 CFR 204.5(d)).

Sources: USCIS, October 2026 chart; USCIS, October 2025 chart; USCIS, September 2026 chart. EB-1 for the rest of the world is current on the October 2026 filing chart. The China column on these charts is for people born in mainland China.

Read the rows this way. The October 2026 EB-1 China filing date sits about 2 years and 3 months behind the calendar; the EB-2 China filing date about 3 years and 9 months. Between October 2025 and October 2026, the EB-1 China filing date moved forward about 13 and a half months and the EB-2 China filing date 13 months. That is a look backward, not a forecast.

What this table leaves out: the October 2026 Final Action Dates are published on the State Department's Visa Bulletin page, which we could not open to check, so this post does not quote them. The September 2026 Final Action Dates above come from the USCIS September chart page. When we checked on October 14, 2026, USCIS had not yet posted a November 2026 filing chart, so the October 2026 dates were the latest. Our October 2026 Visa Bulletin post covers the October bulletin, and our Visa Bulletin page has the wider chart.

Why does China have a separate queue?

Because the law limits how many family and employment preference visas can go to people born in any one country in a year:

"Subject to paragraphs (3), (4), and (5), the total number of immigrant visas made available to natives of any single foreign state or dependent area under subsections (a) and (b) of section 1153 of this title in any fiscal year may not exceed 7 percent (in the case of a single foreign state) or 2 percent (in the case of a dependent area) of the total number of such visas made available under such subsections in that fiscal year." 8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2) (INA 202(a)(2))

(8 U.S.C. 1152, Cornell LII) In practice, when demand from one country's natives is larger than its share, that country gets its own cutoff dates, which is why the USCIS chart has a separate China column.

There is one release valve. Under INA 202(a)(5)(A), if an employment-based category has more visas in a calendar quarter than qualified applicants, the visas in that category are issued without regard to the per-country limit for the rest of that quarter. Our guide to EB-1 priority dates and retrogression explains how the queue moves.

Can your spouse's country of birth change your queue?

Sometimes. The statute says your country of chargeability "shall be determined by birth within such foreign state except that" certain exceptions apply (8 U.S.C. 1152(b)). So your place of birth, not your passport, generally decides which column you use. The spouse exception reads:

"(2) if an alien is chargeable to a different foreign state from that of his spouse, the foreign state to which such alien is chargeable may, if necessary to prevent the separation of husband and wife, be determined by the foreign state of the spouse he is accompanying or following to join, if such spouse has received or would be qualified for an immigrant visa and if immigration charged to the foreign state to which such spouse has been or would be chargeable has not reached a numerical level established under subsection (a)(2) for that fiscal year;" 8 U.S.C. 1152(b)(2) (INA 202(b)(2))

In plain words: if you were born in mainland China and your spouse was born in a country with a shorter queue, you may be charged to your spouse's country if that is necessary to keep you together, you are accompanying or following to join your spouse, your spouse has received or would qualify for an immigrant visa, and that country has not reached its limit for the year. This is often called cross-chargeability. A separate exception in INA 202(b)(4) lets people born in a country where neither parent was born or lived at the time of the birth be charged to a parent's country.

What this means in practice: these exceptions are fact-specific. Check them with your attorney before relying on them. Our country of chargeability guide explains chargeability in more depth.

Can you file your I-485 in October 2026?

You may, if you are in the United States, your priority date is before China's Date for Filing in your category, and you are otherwise eligible. Form I-485 is the application to adjust status to permanent residence. USCIS says that in October 2026, "For all employment-based preference categories, you must use the Dates for Filing chart in the Department of State Visa Bulletin for October 2026." (USCIS, Adjustment of Status Filing Charts)

You can file the I-485 with the I-140 or after it, as long as approval of the petition would make a visa immediately available (8 CFR 245.2(a)(2)(i)(B)). Filing is not approval. The regulation lets you file only when a visa is "immediately available", judged by your priority date against the Visa Bulletin (8 CFR 245.1(g)(1)), but the Final Action Dates are, in USCIS's words, the "dates when visas may finally be issued" (USCIS, October 2026 chart). Approval waits for your priority date to be current under the Final Action Date. Our guide to the I-485 in practice covers the steps.

What do you get while the I-485 is pending?

Two things matter for a long wait.

Work authorization. Filing an I-485 makes you eligible to apply for an employment authorization document (EAD) under category (c)(9) (8 CFR 274a.12(c)(9)). Renewals have changed. For renewal applications filed on or after October 30, 2025, a (c)(9) EAD is not automatically extended: the card expires, and the work authorization terminates, the day after the end validity date on the card (8 CFR 274a.13(e)(2)). DHS made that rule final on October 14, 2026, and said USCIS generally recommends not filing a renewal more than 180 days before expiration but will not reject or deny an otherwise eligible renewal solely because it was filed sooner (91 FR 65306).

What this means in practice: with a multi-year wait, plan EAD renewals well ahead of the end date. If you hold H-1B or L-1 status, keeping it can avoid relying on the EAD alone. Our guide to the EAD while an I-485 is pending explains the trade-offs.

Travel. Leaving the United States with a pending I-485 is generally treated as abandoning it unless you were granted advance parole first. There are exceptions for people in lawful H-1 or L-1 status (and their H-4 or L-2 family members) who meet the conditions (8 CFR 245.2(a)(4)(ii)). See travel while an I-485 is pending.

Does switching categories cost you your place in line?

Generally not, once a petition is approved:

"A petition approved on behalf of an alien under sections 203(b)(1), (2), or (3) of the Act accords the alien the priority date of the approved petition for any subsequently filed petition for any classification under section 203(b)(1), (2), or (3) of the Act for which the alien may qualify." 8 CFR 204.5(e)(1)

(8 CFR 204.5(e)) The exceptions include revocation for fraud, willful misrepresentation or material error, and "A denied petition will not establish a priority date."

For China-born applicants, this matters in two directions. EB-1's filing date is 18 months ahead of EB-2's on the October 2026 chart, so an approved EB-2 or NIW petition holder who later qualifies for EB-1A can carry the earlier priority date into the EB-1 queue. And on the October 2026 chart, China's EB-3 filing date (April 1, 2024) is later than its EB-2 date (USCIS, October 2026 chart); an EB-3 petition needs a US employer and generally a labor certification (8 CFR 204.5(l)). Whether either move helps depends on your record and your dates. See priority date retention and filing two petitions.

Will the China dates keep moving, and how fast?

There is no reliable way to know. Dates can move forward, stall or move backward. The past year's movement of roughly 13 months on the China filing dates is history, not a promise for next year. Each new bulletin also comes with a choice by USCIS about which chart applies for filing, and USCIS says it will use the Final Action Dates chart unless it finds more visas available than known applicants (USCIS, Adjustment of Status Filing Charts).

What this means in practice: treat any forecast, including ours, as a guess. Check the USCIS chart page each month after the bulletin is published.

Where to start

For China-born applicants, the EB-1 filing date is 18 months ahead of EB-2 on the October 2026 chart, so in our view it is worth knowing whether EB-1A is realistic for you. Start with the free evaluation: upload your resume, with no account or card, and see where you stand on the EB-1A and NIW criteria. India-born readers can see the same analysis in our India wait times guide.

If you are close, Frank finds real opportunities such as judging panels, peer review (on Pro and up) and calls for speakers, and saves the proof as you win it. Frank Starter is $49 a month with a 7-day free trial. Filings are prepared by licensed attorneys at an independent partner firm: EB-2 NIW from $7,995 and EB-1A from $8,995, with USCIS fees separate. Green Card Guide is not a law firm, and this post is not legal advice.

Sources

All checked October 14, 2026.

• USCIS, Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin (updated 10/01/2026). Which chart applies in October 2026.
• USCIS, October 2026 filing chart (updated 09/29/2026). October 2026 Dates for Filing.
• USCIS, September 2026 filing chart (updated 08/24/2026). September 2026 Final Action Dates.
• USCIS, October 2025 filing chart (updated 09/15/2025). October 2025 Dates for Filing.
• 8 U.S.C. 1152 (INA 202), Cornell LII. Per-country limit, the quarterly exception and chargeability, quoted above.
• eCFR, 8 CFR 204.5. Priority dates and retention.
• eCFR, 8 CFR 245.1 and 8 CFR 245.2. Visa availability, concurrent filing and travel.
• eCFR, 8 CFR 274a.12 and 8 CFR 274a.13. EAD eligibility and the end of automatic extensions.
• Federal Register, 91 FR 65306 (October 14, 2026). Final rule on EAD automatic extensions.
• The State Department's October 2026 Visa Bulletin could not be opened to check; its October Final Action Dates are not used here.

Frequently asked questions

Green Card Guide AI is not a law firm and this article is not legal advice. It describes evidence-building strategy in general terms; your attorney determines what belongs in your petition and how it's argued.