Synopsis
Every year, 140,000 employment-based green cards are issued and nearly a third is allocated under the EB-2 category along with the unused visas from the other employment-based category, EB-1. This also has a cap of 7% per country. This translates to about a total of 40,000, with 2,800 green cards under this category per country in a year.Listen to this article in summarized format
Every year, 140,000 employment-based green cards are issued and nearly a third is allocated under the EB-2 category along with the unused visas from the other employment-based category, EB-1. This also has a cap of 7% per country. This translates to about a total of 40,000, with 2,800 green cards under this category per country in a year.
Going by the US agency's announcement, India has already hit the limit. In 2021, Indians accounted for a pending green card backlog of about 700,000, making them the largest beneficiary.
"Since all available EB-2 visas for applicants chargeable to India in FY 2026 have been used, embassies and consulates may not issue visas in these cases for the remainder of the fiscal year. The annual limits will reset with the start of the new fiscal year (FY 2027) on October 1, 2026. At that point, embassies and consulates may resume issuing immigrant visas in this category to qualified applicants," the DHS said in the announcement.
This could not have come at the worst time for the Indian nationals, who are facing increasing scrutiny under the Trump administration targeting skilled workers.
Last week, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services in the latest memo said that foreigners applying for green cards should do so abroad, with the exception for those providing economic benefits or those in national interest, in which case they would be able to continue the current path. But the official did not clarify further.
The memo also does not clarify if this would be applied retroactively, which experts told ET could trigger litigation. There are over 7,00,000 employment based green card applications pending as of September 2025.
