New Delhi, India — The U.S. Department of State don release am Visa Bulletin for May 2025, and the updates no be good one for Indian H-1B and green card aspirants. Dem mention say Indian applicants go face significant retrogression for the employment-based fifth preference (EB-5) category, as e don move backward by over six months to May 1, 2019.
China, on di other hand, dey maintain im EB-5 category at January 22, 2014. Di bulletin show sey no change dey for EB1 category for India, wey remain at February 2, 2022. EB1 for China na November 8, 2022, while di other countries still dey current for dis category.
For EB2 category, India’s cutoff date no change; e still dey January 1, 2013, while China dey October 1, 2020. For other countries, EB2 cutoff date dey June 22, 2023. EB3 category see some slight movement as India cutoff date don reach April 15, 2013, but China cutoff date dey stagnant at November 1, 2020.
Under EB3 other workers, India’s date dey the same as EB3, and also reach April 15, 2013. For China, e remain April 1, 2017. The EB4 category don declare “unavailable” for all countries, and all immigrant visas don finish for dis category for di current fiscal year. E go remain unavailable till new fiscal year begin for October 1, 2025.
USCIS don also talk sey e go accept employment-based adjustment of status applications from foreign nationals wey get priority dates wey dey earlier than di Final Action Dates wey dem list for di May Visa Bulletin.
Di news on EB-5 cutting back to May 1, 2019, dey bad news for many green card seekers as e go increase di wait times for residency. Di category wey previous dey current allowed Indian investors to apply for green cards without wahala. Now, only people wey get priority dates before May 1, 2019, fit move forward. Dis go leave fresh applicants for backlog wey strong.
With EB-5 annual visa cap wey dey around 9,800 globally and India share limited to 7% of employment-based visas, high demand dey cause bottlenecks for dis category. Organizations wey dey track dis matter dey express concerns about di impact on dem wey dey hope for green card.
