For visa holders living and working in the U.S., the past few months have been brutal, with one policy update after another tightening an already unforgiving immigration landscape. Yet, amid mass visa appointment cancellations and rising fees, the American Dream appears to have stirred again.
Phoenix-like, it finds fresh life in the January 2026 Visa Bulletin, which delivers genuine forward movement in employment-based (EB) green card categories—most notably a near one-year advance for EB-1 India. Despite widespread skepticism, this is real progress, not a technical or formatting adjustment.
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Indians saw a big jump in final action dates for EB-1 category which has moved to Feb. 1, 2023, from the earlier date of March 15, 2022. This extraordinary jump of close to a year, is a rare win for the Indian community and would lead to positive movement for those waiting for their green cards.
For Indians, there was an even better movement seen in the EB-5 category, which saw a big advancement from April 1, 2022 to May 1, 2024 — an almost unprecedented jump of more than two years.
As both these forward movements, significantly reduce the wait time for Indian professionals awaiting a green card as well as Indian investors seeking green cards in, this has been a moment of bright spot.
Chris Prescott, partner and immigration law leader at PSBP LAW admits that given the lack of movement for EB-1 India over the last year, the recent advancement is definitely a welcome surprise.
On how exactly did this unexpected immigration tailwinds come about, Prescott, explains, “Despite the current climate, movement in priority dates is based on visa allocation numbers and the EB-1 category is the highest priority visa category. Therefore, while it is a tough landscape with increased scrutiny, visa availability is its own separate mechanism.”
Interestingly, there is some progress in other categories such as EB-2 and EB-3 for India as well with India advancing from May 15, 2013, to July 15, 2013; China has shown forward movement from June 1, 2021, to Sept. 1, 2021.
With most employment-based (EB) categories showing gains for Indians, which categories are most likely to benefit in January 2026, and which visa holders are likely to remain stuck? Attorney Prescott says, “Although there has been some movement for EB-2 and EB-3 India, both categories remain heavily backlogged, meaning very few people can file for adjustment. For now, EB-1 and also EB-5 remain the best options for Indians.”