The US State Department said high demand could exhaust India’s annual EB-1 allocation before the end of the fiscal year.
EB-2 India remains unavailable, while the EB-3 final action date for Indian applicants is January 1, 2014.
High demand and US per-country limits have contributed to lengthy employment-based green card queues for Indian applicants.
EB-1 India Could Hit The Limit: What It Means For Thousands Of Green Card Aspirants
Indian green card applicants face fresh uncertainty as the US warns EB-1 visa numbers could run out before September 30, while EB-2 remains unavailable and EB-3 continues to face a long backlog
Summary
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Indian applicants in the US employment-based immigration queue could face another setback, with the US State Department warning that EB-1 visa numbers for India may become temporarily unavailable before September 30, the end of the US fiscal year, due to strong demand.
The warning comes as Indian applicants already face lengthy waits in other employment-based categories. EB-2 India is listed as unavailable in the September Visa Bulletin, while EB-3 applicants continue to face a significant backlog.
EB-1 India Nears Annual Limit
In its September Visa Bulletin, the State Department said increased demand and visa usage by applicants chargeable to India could exhaust the country’s pro-rated EB-1 allocation before the fiscal year ends.
If the allocation is reached, the department said the category could become unavailable in the coming weeks.
“This situation will be continually monitored, and any necessary adjustments will be made accordingly,” the State Department said.
EB-1 is the first-preference employment-based category and covers people with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and certain multinational executives and managers.
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For September, the EB-1 India final action date is October 15, 2022. Generally, applicants need a priority date earlier than the applicable cutoff for a visa number to be available for final issuance, subject to other eligibility requirements.
The dates-for-filing chart provides a later cutoff of December 1, 2023 for EB-1 India. Applicants applying for adjustment of status from within the US must, however, check which Visa Bulletin chart the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has authorised for that month.
EB-2 India Unavailable, EB-3 Backlog Persists
The pressure extends beyond EB-1.
The EB-2 India category is marked “U”, or unavailable, in the September Visa Bulletin, following the same status in August. EB-2 covers professionals with advanced degrees and individuals with exceptional ability.
EB-3 India also remains heavily backlogged. Its September final action date is January 1, 2014, meaning applicants generally need priority dates before that cutoff for final visa action.
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The contrast with other countries highlights the severity of the India backlog. For September, the EB-3 final action date is September 1, 2024, for most countries, compared with January 1, 2022, for mainland China and August 1, 2023, for the Philippines.
For India, the September dates-for-filing cutoff for both EB-2 and EB-3 is January 15, 2015.
Why Indian Applicants Face Long Waits
The prolonged backlog is driven by high demand for employment-based green cards combined with statutory limits on immigrant visa numbers.
For fiscal year 2026, the State Department has set the worldwide employment-based preference limit at 186,317. US immigration law also generally imposes a 7% per-country limit across family- and employment-based preference categories, subject to statutory provisions and available carryover numbers.
India’s large pool of employment-based applicants means these limits can translate into particularly long queues, even for categories that may otherwise have available visa numbers.