Green Card 2026: Why EB-2 India Jumped 10 Months But EB-3 India Didn't Move

The latest Visa Bulletin has sparked significant discussion in the green card community after EB-2 India's priority date advanced by approximately 10 months while EB-3 India saw virtually no forward movement. This divergence has left many EB-3 India applicants frustrated and searching for explanations. The disparity largely comes down to how the Department of State allocates unused visa numbers and manages per-country demand across employment-based preference categories. EB-2 and EB-3 share the same annual country cap, but demand patterns, pending case volumes, and how USCIS adjudicates cases in each category can cause dramatic differences in bulletin movement from month to month. Spillover visas — unused numbers from oversubscribed or undersubscribed categories — play a key role. When EB-1 or other categories don't consume their full quota, those numbers can flow down to EB-2 before reaching EB-3, contributing to uneven advances. Additionally, if USCIS is actively adjudicating more EB-2 cases or there is relatively lower near-term demand in that category, the cutoff date can advance faster. For EB-3 India applicants, the stagnation is a discouraging signal, particularly for those who may have downgraded from EB-2 to EB-3 in hopes of faster movement — a strategy that has historically yielded mixed results depending on the bulletin cycle. Applicants are advised to monitor both the Final Action Date and Date for Filing charts each month, consult with their immigration attorneys about potential category strategies, and track USCIS Visa Bulletin Demand Data reports for longer-term trend analysis.