USCIS tells employment-based green-card applicants to use Final Action Dates in November

Employment-based green-card applicants seeking adjustment of status in November 2026 are being directed to use the Final Action Dates chart, not Dates for Filing, on USCIS’s Spanish-language filing guidance page. Family-based preference applicants are directed on the same page to use Dates for Filing, leaving the two groups under different chart instructions for the month.

That employment-based instruction conflicts with an October 29 advisory from law firm Morgan Lewis, which said USCIS would continue using Dates for Filing in November. UnoTV reported on October 30 that employment-based applicants could use the same chart. The difference determines which applicants can submit cases, not just when those cases can be approved.

USCIS selects the applicable chart each month. The agency says it permits Dates for Filing when it determines that immigrant visas available for the fiscal year exceed the number of applicants; otherwise, it directs applicants to Final Action Dates. The agency expects to publish its monthly selection within a week of the State Department’s Visa Bulletin.

Form I-485 is the permanent-residence application for people already in the United States, according to USCIS form guidance. Applicants in family- and employment-based preference categories are instructed to check whether their priority date qualifies under the designated chart before filing.

The chart choice also affects work-authorization timing. USCIS’s I-485 guidance permits applicants to submit Form I-765, the application for employment authorization, at the same time as their adjustment application. That is permission to apply for work authorization, not an approval of it.