With the United States visa announcement contained in the Visa Bulletin for August 2025, immigrants have hope to plan their immigration journey. This hope comes every month—unifying family, chasing dreams, altering lives.
With the changes in last month’s posting and new cut-off dates, we shall provide a glimpse of what the US Visa Bulletin for August 2025 brings in for you, your beloved one, or your immigration goal.
The simplified monthly bulletin:
Visa Bulletin petitioners are notified monthly about whether they can proceed and request processing for a green card. It divides eligibility into two broad dates:
- “Final Action Dates” are the dates up to which visas can be utilized.
- “Dates for Filing” are the dates up to which the supporting documents can be submitted.
Each two-date class differs by nationality, country of origin and class of visa, and slight variations in aggregate have dire implications for the waiting time.
Below is the highlights summary for August 2025, some advice to future petitioners to file, and some tips as the month goes on.
Family-sponsored visa categories:
For family reunification in the US, the answer for most persons is family visas—the silver bullet which ensures reunification with parents, children, stepbrothers and brothers, wives of husbands.
August 2025 will be a miracle for hundreds of families:
- F1 (Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens):
Advance cut-off date to October 1, 2016, for the great majority of countries. Enormous majority of backlog priority dates should advance in the same way.
For Mexico, the date is November 22, 2005, while for the Philippines the date is March 15, 2013.
- F2A (Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents):
No backlog today, i.e., current. You are subscribed under this preference and otherwise eligible, you may be processed simultaneously.
- F2B (Unmarried Children of Permanent Residents):
All countries are current as of May 8, 2016. That for Mexico is March 1, 2005; that for the Philippines is October 22, 2012.
- F3 (Married Sons and Daughters of US Citizens):
All others: November 15, 2009. Mexico’s was June 8, 2000, and the Philippines was December 6, 2002.
- F4 (Brothers and Sisters of US Citizens):
No general cut-off effective as of February 22, 2007. This excludes Mexico and the Philippines with dates being March 1, 2001, and August 22, 2004, respectively.
What does this mean for you?
If your application’s priority date is earlier than the listed cut-off, August might be the right time you have been waiting on, whether for document submission or final processing.
Employment-based visa categories
For many high-level managers, researchers, and investors, the employment-based categories are opening American doors. This is what is occurring in August:
- EB-1 (Priority Workers):
This is current for all countries except for India and China. India cut-off date is February 1, 2022, and China cut-off date is March 1, 2022.
- EB-2 (Advanced degree or exceptional ability professionals):
For India, the cutoff date is June 1, 2012, while for China the cutoff date is August 1, 2020. All others are current.
- EB-3 (Skilled workers, professionals, other workers):
This category is current for all except for India which now October 1, 2012, and for China, with December 1, 2020, as its cutoff date.
- EB-4 (Certain Special Immigrants):
Cutoff date moved across the board to Feb. 1, 2021.
- EB-5 (Investors):
Dec. 1, 2018, for India’s; Sep. 1, 2017, for China’s non-reserved investors. The remainder are current.
If your (or employer’s) priority date was before these, August would be your month of getting final green card approval at last. In backlog cases, however, progress this month will be a resumption of where matters left off.
Country-specific remarks
Green card requirements are not evenly divided. Various countries, year after year petition, have varying wait lines, i.e., India, China, Mexico, and Philippines.
- India has largest waiting lines for EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, and family-based. This means that the demand for these visas is always more than the quotas imposed.
- China also has the same tale of sorrow for work visas, i.e., EB-2, EB-3, and notably EB-5 investors. The demand is indeed very significantly the culprit in this situation.
- Mexico and the Philippines have uncommon family-based backlogs more than ten years old.
Regardless of your place of origin, it is a good idea to know your priority date and review the monthly bulletin.
Dates for filing
The Bulletin’s “Dates for Filing” provide an initial step for petitioners—document preparation is even possible before a visa is available. Significant filing dates in August 2025:
- Family-based applicants: Most dates closely follow the “Final Action” section this month, minimizing confusion and simplifying family planning.
- Employment-based applicants: Filing remains open for most unless you are from a highly backlogged country—India or China, for example. For others, document submission is wide open.
The desire is to act immediately upon being eligible, even though it is lengthy. Being prepared with your documents will speed up your process when your time is right.
Diversity visa lottery:
You have August to be the Fiscal Year 2025 winners of a diversity visa. You must act fast—questionnaire and interview.
The government is closing the diversity visas quota at the end of the fiscal year and there are slots that will be lost forever.
What to do next?
- Ask for your priority date: Look at your I-130, I-140, or labor certification notice.
- Compare your date: Compare your date with cut-offs by visa category and country of origin.
- Pre-note documents: If you are presumably admissible to file, save ahead of time. This includes preparing your birth certificate, civil records, and the funds you will need.
- Prepare to respond to calls from the government: Again, they will call you back from the government for more information or interviews. You should act on this call at the earliest so that you don’t miss out.
- Ready to move, maybe: Sometimes a category “kicks up” too soon before your time if a vacancy has arisen. Be prepared for it.
Getting the big picture
For many, August delivers the milestone of a decade-long wait finally ending. For others still in line, see this bulletin as motivation to keep documents updated, stay in touch with the National Visa Center, and follow every new release.
Helpful reminders
- Priority dates matter more than anything. The earlier your priority date, the sooner you will advance.
- Another thing that is essential is preparing good documents beforehand. Paper delay can deprive you of an opportunity despite the opportunity for your green card approval.
- Interviews are the last hurdle for all. Prepare beforehand by having documents in hand a few months beforehand.
Both last month and this month bulletins are forward-looking and inject movement into the other. If your family class caught up, or your employer-sponsored case caught up recently, you still have a chance.
Consider the 2007 class of waiters that was bottled up in F4 all these years in limbo, or the Indian researcher who gets to see light at the end of what would otherwise have been a never-ending EB-2 line.
They are not a statistic—these individuals will be able to look forward to finally seeing a better life soon.
Mark your calendar
- The August 2025 Visa Bulletin will take effect on August 1, 2025.
- Ninth-month reports should be available on or about August 14, 2025.
- When the time comes for you, don’t wait—submit all your papers, and contact the National Visa Center or the relevant US consulate and request an interview appointment.
Final words!
This month’s visa bulletin is a new face in the hectic scene of immigration stories. One for every immigrant child, one more career-seeker beginning anew, or entrepreneurs who will construct their tomorrow in America.
Waiting is isolating, but look to each step you take on the path that you are on. You are just a little further down the path. Take some insight along with you, remain calm, and seize every moment.
The possibilities of the horizon unfold month by month. You are nearer to where you are headed than you are to where you were.
The visa bulletin to all petitioners is not a roll call of dates, but a calendar of hope and promise of new beginnings.
To stay updated and informed, keep an eye out on our visa bulletin section or visit – https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/visa-bulletin.html
