If you have an approved SIJ petition and you have been checking the Visa Bulletin every month hoping for news, this is the month.
The Department of State released the October 2026 Visa Bulletin on September 30, 2026, opening fiscal year 2027. For young people with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, it contains the best news in more than a year.
What changed
SIJ green cards come from the employment-based fourth preference category, EB-4. Since April 2025, that category had been showing “U” on the Final Action Dates chart — unavailable, meaning no green cards were being issued in the category at all.
For October 2026, two things happened at once.
- The Dates for Filing cutoff for EB-4 advanced to January 1, 2025, for every country of chargeability.
- USCIS confirmed that applicants in employment-based categories must use the Dates for Filing chart this month — the first time it has done so since April, after using the more restrictive chart every month from May through September.
Together those two facts produce a simple result:
If USCIS received your Form I-360 before January 1, 2025, you may be able to file your green card application this month.
Filing is not the same as approval
This distinction confuses almost everyone, and it matters here.
The Visa Bulletin has two charts. Dates for Filing determines when you may submit your application. Final Action Dates determines when it can actually be approved. For October 2026, the EB-4 Final Action Date is December 15, 2022 — roughly two years behind the filing date.
So a person with a 2024 priority date can file now, but will wait for the final action date to reach them before the green card itself is granted.
That is still enormously worth doing. Once a green card application is pending, you can apply for a work permit while you wait. Your case is in the queue rather than outside it. And you are no longer dependent on a filing window being open on the day you happen to be ready.
The window may be short
October is historically the most generous month of the year, because a new fiscal year brings a fresh allocation of visa numbers. Dates frequently advance in October and then slow, stall, or move backward as demand materializes over the following months.
There is a second variable specific to this situation: USCIS decides each month which chart applies. It used the restrictive chart for five consecutive months before October. Nothing guarantees that November looks like October.
A filing window that is open today is not a window that will be open indefinitely.
How to find your priority date
Your priority date is the date USCIS received your I-360 petition. It appears on your I-360 receipt notice and on your approval notice. If you cannot locate either, that is worth resolving immediately rather than at the end of the month.
Compare that date to January 1, 2025. If yours comes before it, you are in this window.
Four things to get right before you file
You must still be unmarried. SIJ eligibility requires remaining unmarried. Marrying before the green card is granted can end the case entirely. If marriage is anywhere on the horizon, talk to a lawyer first.
Use the current form editions. USCIS replaced Form I-485 on September 18, 2026 with the 09/18/26 edition, and there was no grace period. A package built from a form downloaded over the summer will be rejected on the edition date alone. Download everything fresh and check the date printed at the bottom of each page.
File complete the first time. Since August 5, 2026, USCIS officers may deny an application outright for missing required initial evidence, without first sending a Request for Evidence. The old safety net of fixing problems later is gone.
Ask how the new rules apply to SIJ specifically. SIJ-based adjustment has long been treated differently from ordinary adjustment of status with respect to certain grounds of inadmissibility. Given the public charge rule that took effect on September 18, 2026, how those provisions interact is a question worth putting directly to an attorney rather than assuming either way.
If you do not have an I-360 yet
This bulletin does not change the deadlines that govern getting one. SIJ has hard age limits, and in some states the state court order must be obtained well before the federal petition is filed. Every month that passes narrows the options, and some of them disappear on a birthday.
We track the Visa Bulletin every month for our SIJ clients and file the first month a date opens. If you have an approved I-360 and are not sure where your priority date falls, call us and we will check it against this month’s bulletin. Brooklyn: 718-568-8310. Miami: 305-990-8258.
This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Visa Bulletin dates change monthly and eligibility depends on individual facts. Confirm current dates, chart guidance, and form editions on the official Department of State and USCIS websites before filing. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.