-1788427154777_v.webp)
- US EB-1 visas for India may soon become unavailable.
- EB-2 and EB-5 categories already unavailable for Indian applicants.
- Indian applicants face longer waits for US Green Cards.
US Visa Update: Indian applicants waiting for US employment-based green cards may face another setback as the US State Department has warned that Employment-Based First Preference (EB-1) visas for India may become unavailable in the coming weeks. The situation may arise if the country’s annual visa allocation is exhausted before the US fiscal year ends on September 30.
The warning comes as Indian applicants are already dealing with major backlogs in other EB categories. “High demand and number use by aliens chargeable to India in the EB-1 visa category may necessitate making the category unavailable in the coming weeks if India’s pro-rated limit in the EB-1 category is reached before the fiscal year ends,” the State Department said in the September 2026 Visa Bulletin.
EB-1 Visas May Become Unavailable
The warning is significant as EB-1 is the first-preference category under the US employment-based immigration system. It is meant for priority workers and includes people with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and certain multinational executives and managers.
Recommended For You
ALSO READ: H-1B Spouses To Lose Work Permits? Inside Trump Admin's New Proposal And How It Impacts Indians
For Indian applicants, the September final action date for EB-1 is October 15, 2022. This generally means that an applicant needs a priority date earlier than this cutoff for a visa number to be available for issuance. Also, it means that if India’s EB-1 allocation is fully used before September 30, the category may become unavailable for the rest of the fiscal year.
EB-2 Already Unavailable
The situation is even tougher for Indians waiting under Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2). The EB-2 category, which covers professionals with advanced degrees and people with exceptional ability, is marked unavailable for India in the September Visa Bulletin. Notably, EB-2 India was also unavailable in August. India's unreserved Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) category is also unavailable for final action in September.
Green Card Crunch For Indians?
The situation directly means a long wait for the US Green Card for many applicants. The latest Visa Bulletin shows that Indian applicants are facing pressure across multiple employment-based categories. For fiscal year 2026, the State Department has set the worldwide employment-based preference limit to 186,317. Moreover, US immigration law also applies a 7 per cent per-country limit to family-sponsored and employment-based preference categories.
You May Also Like To Watch: