State Department says EB-1 may become unavailable for Indians for FY 2026

The August 2026 visa bulletin released by the State Department on Monday brought good news for family-sponsored applicants. The final action date for the F2A category for spouses and children of permanent residents saw substantial progress, moving from January 2025 in July to July 2026 in August for all chargeability areas.

What is F2A and who is this for?

F2A is a family-sponsored immigrant visa (green card) category for the spouses and unmarried children (under 21 years old) of US lawful permanent residents (green card holders). For India, the final action date is July 2026, which means the US government is currently issuing Green Cards for applicants whose priority date is before July -- meaning the waiting time is much less, and the backlog has disappeared in this category.

No good news for employment-based Green Card applicants

The visa bulletin offers no good news for those whose Green Card application was sponsored by their companies. Instead, the department forewarned about a retrogression as FY2026 is drawing to a close. EB-2 and EB-5 categories were already declared unavailable for India. Now the department said EB-1 may also become unavailable and EB-2 may retrogress. "High demand and number use by aliens chargeable to India in the EB-1 visa category may necessitate making the category unavailable in the coming weeks if India’s pro-rated limit in the EB-1 category is reached before the fiscal year ends. This situation will be continually monitored, and any necessary adjustments will be made accordingly," the bulletin said. "Sufficient demand and increased number use in the EB-2 visa category may make it necessary to retrogress the final action date or make the category unavailable in the coming months to hold number use within the maximum allowed under the FY 2026 annual limit," it said.

Final Action Dates for India

EB-1 (extraordinary ability): October 12, 2022 EB-2 (advanced degree professionals): unavailable EB-3 (skilled workers): January 1, 2014 EB-4 (special immigrants): October 15, 2022 EB-5 (investors): Unavailable.