Visa Bulletin for December 2025: EB-3 Filing Dates and Annual Limits

The Department of State has released the Visa Bulletin for December 2025, providing updated Final Action Dates and Dates for Filing Applications for numerically limited immigrant visa categories, including EB-3 employment-based visas. Consular officers and USCIS use these dates to determine which applicants are eligible to move forward in the immigration process based on their priority dates. Applicants seeking to file for adjustment of status with USCIS should consult the USCIS website at uscis.gov/visabulletininfo to confirm whether the Final Action Dates or Dates for Filing charts apply for December. USCIS will specify on its site when applicants may use the more favorable Dates for Filing charts, which can allow earlier filing when more visas are available than known applicants. For fiscal year 2026, the worldwide employment-based preference immigrant limit remains at least 140,000. The per-country cap is set at 7% of the combined family-sponsored and employment-based annual limits, totaling 25,620 per country. These per-country limits significantly impact nationals of high-demand countries. The bulletin designates four oversubscribed chargeability areas subject to per-country visa prorating provisions: China (mainland born), India, Mexico, and the Philippines. EB-3 applicants from these countries typically face longer waits due to the high volume of petitions relative to available visa numbers. EB-3 applicants should review the Final Action Dates charts carefully for their country of chargeability and employment-based category (EB-3 skilled, professional, or unskilled/other worker). Priority dates that fall on or before the listed cutoff date may be eligible to proceed to the next stage of the process in December 2025.