The US State Department has announced that it has issued all available immigrant visas in the Employment-based Second Preference (EB-2) category for India in 2026. EB-2 is a Green Card category for professionals with an advanced degree or people with exceptional abilities. The annual limit will be reset on October 1, 2026 at the beginning of the new fiscal year. The department informed that embassies and consulates may not issue EB-2 Green Cards for India until 2026.
What is EB-2? What does the exhaustion of quota mean?
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) limits the number of employment-based preference immigrant visas that may be issued within a fiscal year. Specifically, INA 203(b)(2) provides that the annual limit for EB-2 visas is 28.6 percent of the worldwide employment limit. Additionally, INA 202(a)(2) establishes that natives of any single foreign state may not receive more than seven percent of the total of employment-based and family-sponsored visas, which is prorated among the different visa categories under INA 202(e).India gets around 2800 EB-2 Green Cards per year, going by the calculation of 7% per country cap. The total number of employment-based Green Cards is 140,000 and EB-2 gets 40,000 — about 28.6%According to the latest visa bulletin, the EB-2 Final Action Date is September 1, 2013 which means those who applied for the Green Card on that day become eligible for a Green Card now. But as the quota has already been exhausted, there would be no further movement.The USCIS may, however, continue to accept adjustment of status filings for the cases that are now eligible to receive EB-2 Green Cards. Interviews may get deferred and even if the interview takes place, the cases won’t be approved until a visa number becomes available.The department in its last bulletin said they had to retrogress the Final Action Dates because of a high demand for EB-1 and EB-2 visa categories. “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 visa bulletin said. Now, the EB-2 category has been marked unavailable.