Another US Green Card blocked: Indians face longest wait as EB-3, EW categories full for 2025

 

The US State Department, in coordination with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), has confirmed that the EB-3 and EW (Other Workers) categories have reached their annual limits for fiscal year 2025. This follows earlier announcements that the EB-1 and EB-2 categories had also hit their caps.

US embassies and consulates will not issue further EB-3 or EW visas until the new fiscal year begins on October 1, 2025, when the visa quota resets and new allocations become available.

Understanding the EB-3 and EW categories

The US employment-based green card system is divided into preference groups to balance opportunities among skilled workers, professionals, and investors.

The EB-3 category is reserved for skilled workers, professionals, and other qualified workers. Under US law, this category receives 28.6% of the total annual employment-based immigrant visas, in addition to any unused numbers from EB-1 and EB-2.

Within EB-3, the EW (Other Workers) subcategory is designated for jobs that require less than two years of training or experience and has an annual cap of 10,000 visas.

Together, these allocations make EB-3 one of the most sought-after categories, but also one that regularly faces backlogs, particularly for countries with high demand such as India.

Impact on Indian applicants

Indian professionals in EB-3 and EW categories will face further delays in obtaining priority dates. With the EB-3 category currently unavailable, no new applications can be processed, even if priority dates fall within the cut-off.

India 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, highlighting years of backlog and limited visa availability. The final action date for EB-3 applicants from India remains at May 22, 2013, meaning only applicants with priority dates before that can proceed.

Although EB-5 investor-category applicants from India saw encouraging progress in August 2025, with final action dates advancing by months, those in employment-based categories did not benefit. Earlier pauses in the EB-1 and EB-2 categories had already deepened the backlog for Indian applicants.