What the August Bulletin Means If You Are Deciding on EB-5 Now
The State Department’s August 2026 Visa Bulletin is out, and there are no major surprises. The unreserved category is closed for India until October and carries roughly ten years of priority date delta for China, with a final action date of December 1, 2016. The rural, high unemployment, and infrastructure set-aside categories are current for every country. Current means a visa number is available now: an eligible investor in a qualifying set-aside project can file the I-526E petition and, if otherwise eligible, the I-485 adjustment of status application at the same time, this month and August.
The State Department had already confirmed that, as of June 5, 2026, every unreserved visa for India-chargeable applicants had been issued for FY 2026, a closure posted on the State Department’s visa news page. If you were waiting for the unreserved picture to improve before deciding to file in that specific category, the earliest that can happen is the October bulletin when new FY 2027 visas are provided to each category.
The Supply Math Works Against Waiting
Underneath the monthly dates sits a structural fact that matters more than any single bulletin. Despite the surge of petitions filed for priority processing under the rural set-aside created by the Reform and Integrity Act, the government continues to let unused rural and other reserved numbers slide into the unreserved category once the statutory carryover window closes. Regional center industry litigation has tried to stop this. A federal court in Wisconsin allowed the State Department to keep transferring unused set-aside visas into the unreserved pool, and while that legal effort remains pending, the carryover from unused set-aside to unreserved will otherwise continue into FY 2027.
The pattern is consistent enough that we have called it out before: the government’s allocation datga and public announcements treat unreserved issuance as the priority, and unused reserved supply keeps feeding it. Our earlier analysis of how the government prioritizes unreserved visas walks through the function.
For investors, the practical translation is simple: the unreserved category keeps getting fed from new statutory visas and unsued visas on the reserved side. Past investors in the backlog keep receiving those numbers, and the reserved categories remain the lane where new investors can still find a visa number today.
October Is the Next Real Test
An old story we have written about before is re-affirmed with each Visa Bulletin. Post-RIA petition approvals are dual coded. As we noted in our earlier coverage of the set-aside visa math, unreserved visas can be provided to reserved category investors when supply and sequencing allow it.
October 2026 is then new FY 2027 numbers open, and the bulletin will show whether unreserved supply actually reaches India’s set-aside investors, but this will be determined by demand overseas through a slower consular processing queue and the more automated Adjustment of Status process for investors in the United States with a pending I-485.
How Long the Set-Aside Window Stays Open
The set-aside rows read current on both charts in the August bulletin, with no cutoff dates and no warning language for any country, including India and China. For August, USCIS continues to direct employment-based adjustment applicants to the Final Action Dates chart, and because the set-aside rows are current there, adjustment of status filings for set-aside investors may continue without a priority date cutoff. That means eligible investors who are lawfully in the United States can still file the I-526E and the I-485 adjustment of status application at the same time, exactly as before. The concurrent filing authority in the statute remains intact, a point we covered in detail in our analysis of the May 2026 USCIS discretion memo, PM-602-0199 and EB-5 adjustment of status, and in our companion piece on strengthening a concurrent EB-5 I-485.
To be clear, current does not mean unlimited. Petition filing data across the industry suggests demand for set-aside visas is growing at a faster rate than the annual allocation that feeds them, and the same carryover mechanics described above mean the reserved pools will not stay padded forever. For investors born in backlogged countries, this is the window in which the set-aside categories still deliver what the unreserved category cannot: a visa number available now, and for many, a path that compares favorably to the EB-2 and EB-3 backlog.
Reserve Percentages Are a Carve-Out, Not a Ceiling
The set-aside percentages get marketed in a way that misleads in both directions, so it is worth stating the arithmetic plainly. Fifth preference employment-based visas (EB-5) reserves 20 percent of the annual allocation for rural, 10 percent for high unemployment, and 2 percent for infrastructure. The remaining 68 percent is unreserved. The number that matters is not the reserve slice on its own, because every set-aside investor can also draw on that 68 percent unreserved pool as long as visas are available. A high unemployment investor born in Canada is not limited to 10 percent of the visas. Counting the unreserved pool, that high unemployment investor has access to roughly 78 percent of the annual allocation, and a rural investor from Canada has access to roughly 88 percent. The gap between them is real but marginal, ten points on a large shared base, which is a different picture than the two-to-one advantage the bare reserve ratio seems to imply.
Petitions filed under the rural set-aside receive priority adjudication until USCIS feels they have approved enough to meet demand, so a rural investor can draw a faster decision theory on the I-526E timeline. A faster petition is not a faster green card. For an investor from a backlogged country the binding constraint is the visa number tied to the priority date, not the speed of the petition, and it’s worth restating as we have for years, there is no published data showing rural priority converting into green cards at a faster pace. If it did, the rural charts would show it by now. Instead the set-aside rows stay current with nothing to measure, while the unreserved category, issuing against priority dates reaching back to 2016 for Chinese applicants, is where green cards are actually being granted in volume. Priority date seniority moves an applicant to a green card, and petition speed does not. That is the gap rural promoters are bracing for without naming it: when rural demand reaches the visa stage, a final action date will govern who receives a green card, and a fast petition will not move it. If that category gets a date first, filings from China and India will be difficult to source and could impact the relationship between the NCE and the JCE.
High unemployment reads current on both charts in the August bulletin, with no cutoff date, which means an eligible investor who is lawfully in the United States can file the I-526E and the I-485 at the same time today, drawing on 78 percent of the annual pool rather than the 10 percent the reserve number suggests. Our high unemployment project at 1900 Broadway sits in that lane, which is why we are direct with investors about acting while the category is open rather than waiting for a bulletin that is more likely to tighten than to loosen.
Investors are moving to file before September 30, and the closer that date gets, the harder it is to book attorney time, finish a source of funds file, and subscribe cleanly. We covered what the September 30 deadline is and who it affects. Starting now, making a sound economic decision, and looking at the data clearly, are the keys to making the right EB-5 decision.
Why Investors Who Read the Data Choose Behring
The investors who see past the rural marketing are the ones who read the visa data for themselves. Despite the petition-priority surge into the rural set-aside, the government has yet to issue even the full 20 percent of visas reserved for rural, and the rural charts stay current with no movement to show for that priority. If petition speed were translating into green cards, the numbers would show it. They do not. That gap is the whole argument, and it is why sophisticated investors weigh the operator and the data over the marketing.
On that measure Behring is a different kind of sponsor. Behring brought three federal lawsuits against the government between 2020 and 2022: one vacated an unlawful regulation and restored the lower investment amounts, one challenged the shutdown of EB-5 filings during the 2021 program lapse, and one preserved every pre-existing regional center in the country. When the Department of Homeland Security published its 2026 proposed rule, Behring’s litigation was cited seven times in the government’s own rulemaking, and two of those three cases are now written into the legal foundation of the regulation itself. Our full record is on the EB-5 litigation updates page.
The development track record matches the legal one. Behring’s founder, Colin Behring, was named Developer of the Year, recognition backed by independent industry bodies for the Oakland projects that anchor our EB-5 offerings, including the 39-story tower at 1900 Broadway. The full case is in what Developer of the Year means for EB-5 investors. As a vertically integrated developer, fund manager, and regional center, Behring has sponsored more than 1.2 billion dollars in EB-5 development creating over 8,400 jobs, with a track record of USCIS project approvals across common equity, preferred equity, and debt structures. That combination is what a set-aside category cannot supply on its own: a sponsor whose reading of the program the government itself has been made to answer for.
What This Leaves for Investors: Asset Class and Operator
When visa strategy narrows to the set-aside categories and timing pressure builds, the immigration question stops being the differentiator. What separates one EB-5 investment from another at that point is what has always mattered in real estate: the asset class, the capital structure, the job creation math, and the operator’s track record with investor capital and USCIS compliance. Investors comparing projects this quarter should be underwriting the investment first and asking hard questions about source of funds preparation early, because a current visa category only helps a petition that is ready to file.
If this matches your situation, the fastest way to get clarity is a direct conversation. Bring your timeline and your priority date questions, and we will walk through the set-aside options, the projects currently open, and what the October reset is likely to mean for you. Talk with your immigration attorney about filing strategy, and reach our team here to start on the project side.
Talk to Us Before the Window Narrows
If you are weighing EB-5 this quarter, the categories that let you file today are the ones under the most demand, and the September 30 date is pulling attorney calendars tighter by the week. The investors who move first choose their project and their position. The ones who wait take what is left. We will walk through the open set-aside options, where 1900 Broadway fits your priority date and timeline, and what the October reset is likely to mean for you, with no obligation.
Book a call: schedule a free EB-5 consultation, or reach our team here and we will get you the project materials the same day.
Important Disclosures
This article is provided for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, investment, or immigration advice. EB-5 eligibility, project risks, and immigration outcomes depend on specific facts, evolving USCIS policy, and individual legal strategy. Visa Bulletin availability changes monthly. Investors should consult their own qualified immigration and securities counsel regarding how these concepts apply to their particular circumstances. References to USCIS, precedent decisions, or attorney commentary are descriptive only and do not imply any guarantee of outcome in any specific case.