After EB-2, US hits EB-1 green card cap for 2025, Indian professionals face further delays

 

The US State Department and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have confirmed that the Employment-Based First Preference (EB-1) category has reached its visa cap for fiscal year 2025, following last week’s halt on EB-2 Green Cards.

With all available EB-1 visas issued, embassies and consulates will not process further applications until the new fiscal year begins on October 1, 2025, signalling further delays for top-level professionals seeking US permanent residency.

Understanding the EB-1 category

The US employment-based green card system divides visas into several preference categories to distribute allocations among skilled workers, professionals, and investors. The EB-1 or Priority Workers category receives 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based visa quota under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

This category is reserved for individuals with extraordinary ability in fields such as science, arts, education, business, or athletics. It also covers outstanding professors and researchers, as well as certain multinational executives and managers.

If the visas allocated to the fourth and fifth preference categories remain unused, they are added to the EB-1 pool, making it a highly sought-after route for top-level professionals seeking permanent residency in the US.

Impact on Indian applicants

Indian professionals in the EB-1 category face additional delays in securing priority dates. With the EB-1 category unavailable until the next fiscal year, no new applications can be processed, even if priority dates fall within the cut-off. The category will reopen only on October 1, 2025, for qualified applicants.

India already faces some of the longest waits for employment-based green cards. The September 2025 Visa Bulletin shows no movement in final priority dates for Indian applicants, with the final action date for EB-1 applicants from India remaining at February 15, 2022. This means only applicants with priority dates before that can proceed.

While EB-5 investor-category applicants from India saw encouraging progress in August 2025, with final action dates advancing by several months, those in employment-based categories did not see similar benefits.