The United States has stopped issuing new Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2) immigrant visas to Indian applicants after reaching its annual limit for the 2026 fiscal year, according to the US Department of State.

In an announcement issued on May 22, the State Department said all available EB-2 visas for applicants “chargeable to India” had been exhausted in coordination with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

As a result, US embassies and consulates worldwide “may not issue visas in these cases for the remainder of the fiscal year," the Department of State stated.

The freeze will remain in place until the start of the next US fiscal year on October 1, 2026, when annual visa limits reset and processing can resume for qualified applicants.

The EB-2 category is widely used by highly skilled professionals, including engineers, IT specialists, researchers, doctors and executives seeking permanent residency in the United States.

Why the cap was reached

The US immigration system places strict annual limits on employment-based immigrant visas.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), EB-2 visas account for 28.6 per cent of the worldwide employment-based immigration limit. The law also states that nationals from a single country cannot receive more than seven per cent of the combined employment-based and family-sponsored visa allocations each year.

India has long faced heavy backlogs in employment-based immigration categories because of high demand from skilled workers, particularly from the technology and healthcare sectors.

The State Department said: “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.”

A similar situation unfolded in September 2025, when the US government announced that all available EB-2 visas for fiscal year 2025 had also been issued before the fiscal year ended.

Source: Gulf News