The U.S. State Department has exhausted all Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2) immigrant visas for Indian applicants for fiscal year 2026, halting new approvals in one of the most heavily backlogged Green Card categories for skilled professionals.
The EB-2 category is intended for professionals with advanced degrees and individuals with exceptional ability in fields such as science, business, and technology. In a recent update, the State Department said all available EB-2 visa numbers for India had been used for the current fiscal year. As a result, U.S. embassies and consulates cannot issue additional EB-2 immigrant visas to Indian nationals until the new fiscal year begins in October.
The move is tied to annual caps established under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Federal law limits employment-based immigrant visas to 140,000 each year across all categories, with roughly 28.6 percent allocated to EB-2 applicants. Another provision caps each country at seven percent of the total number of employment-based and family-sponsored immigrant visas issued annually.
READ: US expands visa restrictions targeting individuals linked to ‘adversarial’ countries (April 17, 2026)
Because of that country cap, India receives only a small portion of available EB-2 Green Cards each year despite overwhelming demand from Indian professionals working in the United States. Based on current calculations, India receives roughly 2,800 EB-2 Green Cards annually.
The latest Visa Bulletin lists the EB-2 India Final Action Date as September 1, 2013. That means only applicants whose priority dates fall on or before that date are currently eligible for Green Card approval. However, with the annual quota now exhausted, applicants should not expect further movement in the category until the next fiscal cycle begins.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services may continue accepting adjustment of status applications from individuals whose priority dates are current. However, immigration attorneys say final approvals could be delayed because no visa numbers remain available for the category this fiscal year.
In some cases, interviews may still be scheduled and completed, but applications cannot be formally approved until new visa numbers are released after Oct. 1.
READ: US to expand $15,000 visa bond requirement to 50 countries (March 18, 2026)
The development adds to the already severe Green Card backlog facing Indian professionals, many of whom have spent more than a decade waiting for permanent residency in the United States.
The State Department had already warned that India’s employment-based Green Card categories were approaching their annual limits before officially marking the EB-2 category as unavailable for the remainder of fiscal year 2026.
In its previous Visa Bulletin, the department cited a sharp increase in demand across both the EB-1 and EB-2 categories for Indian applicants, signaling that stricter cutoffs could follow.
“Further retrogressions, or making the categories ‘unavailable,’ may be necessary in the coming months if India’s pro-rated limits in the EB-1 or EB-2 categories are reached before the fiscal year ends,” the bulletin stated.
That warning has now materialized for EB-2 India, with all available visa numbers exhausted months before the fiscal year resets on October 1, 2026.