EB-2 India Unavailable Through Sept 2026: Adjustment of Status Blocked for Indian Nationals

The U.S. Department of State has officially confirmed that the EB-2 India immigrant visa category has reached its annual fiscal year 2026 limit and is now unavailable for both immigrant visa issuance and adjustment of status approvals through September 30, 2026. This marks a significant shift from historical patterns where India benefited from unused visa numbers redistributed from other countries. The root cause of this change is a structural one: worldwide demand for employment-based immigrant visas has surged dramatically in recent years. Countries that previously underutilized their visa allocations are now consuming their full share, leaving virtually no unused numbers to redistribute to oversubscribed categories like EB-2 India and EB-3 India. As a result, Indian nationals should not expect the dramatic forward movement occasionally seen in prior years — retrogressions and periods of unavailability are likely to become more frequent, with waits potentially stretching into decades. Despite the unavailability of final green card approvals, USCIS may still allow adjustment of status filings if the applicable filing chart remains current. This distinction is important for applicants already in the U.S., as a pending adjustment application can still provide meaningful benefits including employment authorization (EAD), advance parole travel documents, H-1B extension flexibility, and AC21 job portability — even without a final green card approval in the near term. For employers sponsoring Indian nationals, the worsening EB-2 and EB-3 India backlog is becoming a workforce planning and retention challenge, not just an immigration processing issue. Employers are advised to review PERM and I-140 pipelines earlier, evaluate retention risks for long-backlogged employees, and explore alternative visa classifications where possible. Careful planning for international travel by adjustment applicants is also critical. Against this backdrop, the EB-5 immigrant investor category — particularly reserved visa categories under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (rural, high unemployment area, and infrastructure projects) — remains one of the few pathways currently available to Indian nationals without severe backlog concerns. Without congressional action to increase employment-based visa quotas or recapture unused numbers, Indian EB-2 and EB-3 applicants should anticipate continued backlogs well into future fiscal years.