(INDIA) — The U.S. State Department exhausted the EB-2 immigrant visa quota for applicants chargeable to India in fiscal year 2026, cutting off new visa issuance in that category through September 30, 2026.

Embassies and consulates may not issue EB-2 immigrant visas for India for the rest of the fiscal year. The category resets on October 1, 2026, when fiscal year 2027 begins and new visa numbers become available.

The State Department announced on May 22, 2026 that all available EB-2 visas for India in fiscal year 2026 had been used. That moved a long-running backlog into a new phase, with visa issuance halted even as demand remains high.

The June 2026 2025 Visa Bulletin“>Visa Bulletin also pushed India’s EB-2 final action date back to September 1, 2013. The bulletin said high demand and number use drove the retrogression.

That bulletin also warned that further retrogression, or even the category becoming “unavailable,” could occur before the fiscal year ends. The warning came after the annual supply for India had already been used.

The immediate effect is straightforward. No new EB-2 immigrant visas for India can be issued until the new fiscal year starts.

Applicants with cases at embassies and consulates now face a pause that runs to the end of the fiscal year. Even if a case is otherwise ready, the absence of an available visa number blocks issuance.

Adjustment of status cases in the United States remain in motion in a narrower sense. Those cases may still be scheduled or interviewed, but they cannot be approved without an available visa number until after October 1, 2026.

USCIS and consular posts will resume approvals and issuances once fiscal year 2027 numbers become available. Until then, the cutoff affects both overseas immigrant visa processing and final approvals in the United States.

The limits that shape the category are built into the employment-based immigration system. The EB-2 category is subject to a worldwide annual limit equal to 28.6% of the employment-based immigrant visa cap.

India also falls under the 7% per-country cap on employment-based and family-sponsored visas. That cap leaves India with a far smaller share of the EB-2 pool than the worldwide total, even when demand from India remains high.

The result is a bottleneck that appears clearly in the Visa Bulletin. A retrogressed final action date means only applicants with priority dates earlier than the listed date can receive final approval when numbers are available.

With India’s EB-2 final action date set at September 1, 2013 in the June 2026 Visa Bulletin, the queue reaches back more than a decade. The fiscal-year cutoff then shuts the category entirely for new issuance until the annual allocation resets.

That distinction matters inside the processing system. A case can keep moving through scheduling and interview steps, but the government cannot complete the last stage without a current priority date and an available visa number.

The State Department’s announcement on May 22, 2026 established that no such numbers remained for India in EB-2 for fiscal year 2026. From that point through September 30, 2026, the annual supply is exhausted.

The June 2026 Visa Bulletin then reflected the pressure in the category by moving the final action date backward. Retrogression is the government’s mechanism for controlling case approvals when demand outpaces the remaining supply of immigrant visas.

India’s position in EB-2 has drawn sustained attention because the category covers workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability, and because demand has remained well above the numbers available under the annual caps described in the bulletin and State Department guidance. In fiscal year 2026, that pressure ended with full use of the available allocation before the fiscal year closed.

The cutoff does not erase pending cases. It delays final visa issuance or approval until the next fiscal year opens and new numbers are released.

That leaves the next milestone fixed on the calendar. Fiscal year 2027 begins on October 1, 2026.

On that date, USCIS and consular posts can resume approvals and issuances once fiscal year 2027 numbers are available. Whether that produces relief in the queue, however, will depend on future Visa Bulletin movements and the level of demand already in the pipeline.

The June 2026 bulletin already signaled that conditions could tighten further before the end of the fiscal year. Its warning about additional retrogression, or a category becoming “unavailable,” underscored how little flexibility remained after the annual allocation for India had been spent.

Practitioners tracking employment-based cases often focus on two separate questions at once: whether a case can keep moving procedurally, and whether a visa number exists for final approval. In India’s EB-2 category, fiscal year 2026 now offers a clear answer to the second question. It does not.

That split can shape expectations for applicants whose files are already deep into the process. Interviews may still go forward, and cases may still sit ready for completion, but the final step remains tied to visa-number availability.

The annual cap structure also explains why movement in the category can appear abrupt. A worldwide EB-2 limit set at 28.6% of the employment-based immigrant visa cap does not translate into broad availability for any one country once the 7% per-country cap applies.

For India, where demand has remained heavy, that smaller country allocation can be consumed well before the fiscal year ends. The May 22 announcement showed exactly that in fiscal year 2026.

The June 2026 Visa Bulletin supplied the companion measure that applicants watch most closely: the final action date. Together, visa-number exhaustion and a retrogressed cutoff date define what can and cannot be approved before the new fiscal year begins.

Applicants and lawyers now have a short list of fixed dates and variables to watch. The fixed dates are September 30, 2026, when fiscal year 2026 ends, and October 1, 2026, when fiscal year 2027 starts.

The variables are the State Department’s monthly Visa Bulletin updates and any State Department announcements on category availability. Those updates will show whether India’s EB-2 final action date holds, moves again, or whether the category shifts to “unavailable” before the fiscal year closes.

Until the reset arrives, the practical position remains unchanged. No new EB-2 immigrant visas for India can be issued, and adjustment cases that require a visa number cannot receive final approval.

What remains open is the calendar beyond the reset. New fiscal year 2027 numbers will allow USCIS and consular posts to resume action, but the June bulletin’s warning and the depth of the backlog leave the Visa Bulletin at the center of every next step for India’s EB-2 line.