The United States Department of State (DOS) and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have announced the exhaustion of all available immigrant visas in the Employment-Based Second Preference category (EB-2) for persons chargeable to India for the 2026 fiscal year, which runs from October 1, 2025, to September 30, 2026. By law, the number of EB-2 immigrant visas that may be issued every fiscal year is 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based immigrant visa limit, and oversubscribed countries (such as India) are limited to 7% of the worldwide limit for employment- and family-based immigrant visas. All EB-2 immigrant visas available to Indian-born persons for FY 2026 have now been used. This means that United States embassies and consulates cannot issue any more EB-2 immigrant visas to individuals born in India until the 2027 fiscal year begins on October 1, 2026. USCIS also cannot approve any more adjustment of status (AOS) applications based on EB-2 petitions for applicants chargeable to India until October 1, 2026, regardless of the applicant’s priority date.
Although no more AOS applications based on EB-2 petitions may be approved by USCIS for persons born in India until October 1, the agency should continue accepting AOS applications from these individuals for the rest of May, provided that the applicant’s priority date is current under the cut-off dates specified in the May Visa Bulletin. It is not clear at the moment if the India EB-2 cut-off dates in the June Visa Bulletin will be honored and if AOS applications can be filed in June based upon these dates. A revised June Visa Bulletin would presumably be required if they are not. Any AOS applicants whose applications are based on EB-2 petitions that are impacted by this visa unavailability but who have already been scheduled to attend AOS interviews at local USCIS offices should attend these interviews; the interviewing officer should conduct the interview and, if he/she finds the application approvable, will inform the applicant that the application has been provisionally approved, but that permanent resident status cannot be granted until October 1 at the earliest.
T&S Takeaway
The exhaustion of all immigrant visas in the EB-2 category for persons chargeable to India is somewhat unexpected and has come relatively early in the year. The fact that the June Visa Bulletin’s Final Action dates involved a retrogression of close to a year in the India EB-2 category suggests that such unavailability was on the horizon, and the State Department comments to this Visa Bulletin edition confirmed this, however.
After the end of the 2026 fiscal year on September 30 of this year, a new quota of immigrant visas will be available on October 1, when the 2027 fiscal year begins, and forward movement in the India EB-2 category will undoubtedly occur at that point.
T&S will continue to closely monitor all developments in this regard, including the monthly issuance of Visa Bulletins by the DOS, and will provide further updates periodically.
