Bad news for Indians hoping for Green Card, H-1B visa as US decides to…, Trump’s move to affect…

The US State Department has released the visa bulletin for May 2025 and it has come as a shock to Indians hoping for H-1B and Green Card. The bulletin states that there has been a huge decline in the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) category for Indians. India has gone back more than six months in the EB-5 unreserved category. This means that there will be more delay in getting the Green Card . Earlier this category was operational, due to which Indians could apply for Green Card without any delay but now only those people will move forward whose priority date is before May 1, 2019.

As per the May Visa Bulletin, there is no change in the Employment-Based First Preference (EB1) category. For India, the EB1 cutoff date is February 2022. For China, it is November 8, 2022, while for all other countries, the EB1 category remains active. There is no change in the Employment-Based Second Preference (EB2) category. India’s cutoff date remains constant at January 1, 2013. China’s EB2 cutoff date is October 1, 2020. Apart from these, for all other countries, the EB2 cutoff is June 22, 2023.

EB4 and EB5 categories

India’s cutoff date in the Employment-Based Third Preference (EB3) category has moved slightly forward to April 15, 2013. There is no change for China and it is at November 2020. For all other countries in the US , the EB3 cutoff date remains constant at January 1, 2023. India’s cutoff date in the EB3 Other Workers category remains the same as EB3 at April 15, 2013. For China, the cutoff date is April 2017. For other countries, the EB3 Other Workers cutoff date remains at 2021.

The Employment-Based Fourth Preference (EB4) category is ‘unavailable’ for all countries. All immigrant visas in this category for this fiscal year have been used. Therefore, it is likely to remain unavailable until the beginning of the new fiscal year on October 1, 2025. India’s unreserved cutoff date in the EB5 category has been pushed back to May 1, 2019. China’s unreserved cutoff date remains frozen at January 22, 2014. EB5 remains active for all other EB5 categories and countries.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will accept employment-based adjustment of status applications from foreign nationals whose priority date is earlier than the final action date provided in the May Visa Bulletin. This means that if an applicant has an earlier priority date, he or she can apply.

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