When your priority date retrogresses, your adjustment-of-status case is held in abeyance and cannot move forward until visa availability returns to your date. Your place in the queue does not change, but processing stops entirely—you cannot file a new application, and USCIS will not adjudicate your pending case until a visa is again available in your category and country. Retrogression occurs when more applicants apply for a visa in a particular category or country than visas are available, causing the Department of State to move the cut-off date backward each month instead of forward. For employment-based applicants, this presents an immediate risk in 2026: EB-2 and EB-5 categories face possible retrogression before year-end to hold number use within fiscal year limits.
Table of Contents
- How Retrogression Works
- What Stops During Retrogression
- Your Place in Line Is Preserved
- Employment-Based and Family-Based Applicants
- EB-2 and EB-5 Retrogression Risk in 2026
How Retrogression Works
The Department of State publishes a Visa Bulletin each month listing the current priority date cutoff for each visa category and country. When more applicants compete for visas than are available in a given month, the cut-off date moves backward instead of forward. your own priority date—the date USCIS received your petition—does not change.
What changes is whether a visa is available to you right now. The number of employment-based and family-based visas available each fiscal year is set by federal law and does not increase mid-year. Once that number is exhausted, no more visas can be allocated until October 1, when the new fiscal year begins. This timing creates a predictable risk window in summer and early fall.
What Stops During Retrogression
When your priority date falls outside the current cut-off, your adjustment-of-status case is held in abeyance at the National Benefits Center or Texas Service Center and cannot be adjudicated until a visa becomes available. This is not a denial. Your case remains open; it simply cannot proceed without a visa number.
You cannot file a new Form I-485 (adjustment of status) if your priority date is not current. USCIS requires a visa to be available at both the time of filing and at adjudication. If you have been waiting for a decision on a pending case, you cannot file a new application until the Visa Bulletin shows your date as current again.
Your Place in Line Is Preserved
Retrogression does not change your priority date or your place in the queue. Your position is locked. Once a visa becomes available to your priority date again, USCIS monitors cases monthly and generally completes adjudication when a visa becomes available, though applicants should allow at least 120 days after a visa is available before inquiring about status.
The 120-day window exists because USCIS processes retrogressed cases in batches after visa numbers become available. Do not assume your case has been abandoned if weeks pass between the cut-off date covering your priority date and your adjudication.
Employment-Based and Family-Based Applicants
Employment-based beneficiaries can use AC21 employment portability during retrogression and retain their priority date when changing employers. This means a paused case does not trap you in your current job or require restarting the green card process. Family-based applicants have no such protection and must wait for visa availability to resume. Derivative children—spouses and unmarried children under 21 of the principal beneficiary—receive age-out protection under the Child Status Protection Act: if a visa becomes unavailable before one year passes, age is calculated as of the first date the visa became available, not the later date retrogression occurred. However, if the principal beneficiary becomes a lawful permanent resident or naturalizes before the dependent's adjustment case is complete, the dependent loses eligibility for that family classification.
EB-2 and EB-5 Retrogression Risk in 2026
As of September 2026, EB-2 and EB-5 categories have sufficient demand that the Department of State may retrogress final action dates before year-end. Employment-based second preference (EB-2) includes skilled workers with advanced degrees and professionals with national interest waivers. Fifth preference (EB-5) is for immigrant investors. If you are in either pipeline, check the monthly Visa Bulletin and track your priority date against the final action date cutoff.
A backward movement—rather than forward—signals that retrogression is occurring or imminent. Applicants approaching a current date should gather any outstanding documents and be ready to file immediately when a visa becomes available to you.