India Hits EB-2 Visa Cap; Processing Paused Until October

India -West News Desk

WASHINGTON, DC – Indian applicants seeking permanent residency through the Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2) category will no longer receive visa issuances for the remainder of fiscal year 2026.

The U.S. Department of State, working with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said all available immigrant visas for applicants from India in the category have been exhausted for the fiscal year.

As a result, U.S. embassies and consulates will not issue additional EB-2 visas to applicants from India until the current fiscal year ends.

The limits are set under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which regulates the number of employment-based immigrant visas issued each year.

Under the law, the annual EB-2 allocation is capped at 28.6 percent of the worldwide employment-based visa limit. The law also restricts applicants from any single country from receiving more than 7 percent of the total employment-based and family-sponsored visas available annually.

The annual visa allocation will reset on Oct. 1, 2026, with the start of fiscal year 2027. U.S. embassies and consulates will then resume issuing EB-2 immigrant visas to qualified applicants from India.