History, predictions & alerts
Where does the State Department publish Visa Bulletin projections?
Updated · Not legal advice
There is no standing official forecast page. When the State Department shares an outlook, it does so in the notes sections of the monthly Visa Bulletin itself, for example warning that a category may retrogress or describing expected movement in the coming months.
| Source | Official? | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
| Notes in the monthly bulletin | Yes | Occasional outlook, warnings of retrogression or unavailability |
| Annual Report of the Visa Office, waiting list data | Yes | Past issuance and backlog counts, not forecasts |
| USCIS filing charts page | Yes | Which chart to use this month, not a forecast |
| Law firm and community predictions | No | Estimates; quality varies |
How to use the official signals
- Read the notes of every new bulletin for your category and country.
- Look at the State Department's published visa statistics for the size of the backlog, if available for your category.
- Treat everything else as an estimate and check who made it and how.
Quick answers
- Does the State Department publish predictions?
- Only occasionally, inside the bulletin's notes. There is no separate forecast page.
- Are lawyers' predictions official?
- No. They are estimates based on history and data, sometimes useful, never guaranteed.
- Where are past bulletins?
- In the official archive; see past Visa Bulletins.
What to do next: get your Visa Bulletin alert
We flag any note that mentions your category or country in your alert, so official outlook reaches you the month it is published.
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Sources
- U.S. Department of State: Visa Bulletin (current, upcoming and archive)
- U.S. Department of State: Visa Statistics (annual reports, waiting list)
- USCIS: Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin
Checked: November 12, 2026