US Green Card Halt: India EB-2 and EB-5 Categories Frozen for Remainder of FY 2026

The U.S. Department of State has halted final approval of green cards in the EB-2 India and EB-5 Unreserved India categories for the remainder of fiscal year 2026, which ends September 30. The freeze follows the exhaustion of annual quotas for these categories, leaving no visa numbers available for issuance.

Applicants with pending I-485 adjustment of status applications in these categories will see their cases paused until the new fiscal year begins on October 1, 2026, when fresh annual limits reset. The State Department's Visa Bulletin for October 2025 had already set final action dates for these categories, but the quota exhaustion means no further approvals can be processed this fiscal year.

The freeze affects both the employment-based second preference (EB-2) for India, which covers advanced degree professionals and individuals with exceptional ability, and the EB-5 Unreserved India category, which applies to immigrant investors not using set-aside visas. The EB-5 Unreserved category includes the standard $1.05 million investment option, while the reserved categories for rural and high-unemployment areas remain unaffected.

This is not the first time India has faced such a cutoff. In fiscal year 2024, the EB-2 India category also became unavailable in September, though the current freeze comes earlier in the fiscal year. The annual per-country cap of 7% of total employment-based visas, combined with high demand from Indian nationals, has led to repeated backlogs.

Applicants in affected categories should monitor the State Department's monthly Visa Bulletin for updates. When FY 2027 begins on October 1, 2026, new visa numbers will become available, and cases will resume processing in priority date order. Until then, no final approvals will be issued for these categories.