State Department Warns EB-1 India Category May Become Unavailable Before FY 2026 Ends

The U.S. Department of State warned that EB-1 India could become unavailable in the coming weeks if demand uses up the country’s prorated allocation before September 30, 2026.

The warning appears in the August 2026 Visa Bulletin, which sets the category’s Final Action Date at October 15, 2022. Its Dates for Filing chart lists December 1, 2023.

Those dates serve different purposes. The filing chart can determine when an eligible applicant may submit an adjustment application, but only when U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services authorizes that chart. The final-action cutoff governs when an immigrant visa number may support final approval.

The department’s warning is unusually direct.

“High demand and number use by aliens chargeable to India in the EB-1 visa category may necessitate making the category unavailable in the coming weeks if India's pro-rated limit in the EB-1 category is reached before the fiscal year ends. This situation will be continually monitored, and any necessary adjustments will be made accordingly.”

The category has not disappeared. The risk concerns visa-number availability before the fiscal year closes.

The August charts separate filing from final approval

Applicants with priority dates on or before the applicable cutoff may be dealing with two different government decisions. One determines whether an adjustment case can be filed. The other determines whether the immigrant visa number needed for final approval is available.

That distinction creates a gap between filing and approval. A person may qualify to submit an adjustment application under the filing chart while still waiting for the priority date to become current under the final-action chart.

The August cutoff is October 15, 2022. The filing date is December 1, 2023.

A later change in the bulletin can affect the second stage without erasing the first. Applicants whose priority dates permit filing should check the chart USCIS has authorized for the month before deciding whether they are eligible to submit an application.

“U” refers to visa-number availability

The bulletin uses “U” when immigrant visa numbers are not authorized for issuance in a category. If the category receives that designation, the immediate issue is whether a number can be used for the immigrant visa process and final green-card decision.

The designation does not by itself invalidate an approved Form I-140. Petition approval and visa-number availability are separate matters.

An approved petition establishes the petitioner’s or beneficiary’s immigration classification, subject to the normal rules governing petition validity and revocation. The bulletin determines when that classification can use an immigrant visa number.

The distinction is important for applicants who have already secured petition approval but have not completed the green-card process. A change in the cutoff does not turn an approved petition into a rejected one.

Pending Form I-485 cases can remain pending

Retrogression or unavailability does not automatically cancel a properly filed Form I-485. A case may remain pending while the applicant waits for visa-number availability to return.

USCIS can continue working on parts of an application during that period. Final approval, however, requires an available immigrant visa number.

Applicants with pending adjustment cases may also have employment authorization or advance parole connected to those applications. A bulletin change does not automatically extend either document.

Each document has its own expiration date. Applicants should monitor those dates and seek renewals when appropriate.

Late-2022 applicants have reported frustration that some newer cases filed during a temporary advance to 2023 received approvals while older cases remained in “Case Remains Pending” status. Priority dates and case processing do not always produce identical timelines.

September 30 marks the end of the allocation year

Employment-based immigrant visas operate under annual, category and per-country limits. The current fiscal year ends on September 30, 2026.

The State Department says a category can become unavailable before that date when an annual, category or prorated per-country limit is reached. The warning specifically points to India’s prorated limit in the first employment-based preference.

The department released the August bulletin on July 20, 2026. It is Volume XI, Number 17, and Section E contains the warning about possible unavailability.

New annual visa allocations begin with FY2027 on October 1. That reset does not guarantee that a cutoff date will immediately advance to a specific point.

The category moved sharply earlier in the year. In January 2026, its date advanced by 11 months, and it reached as far as April 2023 in late 2025 and early 2026. The August cutoff later stood at October 15, 2022.

USCIS had approximately 21,904 pending adjustment applications in the category’s early-2026 inventory, according to the research cited in the bulletin coverage.

Current applicants are being urged to act on open case issues

Applicants whose priority dates qualify under the authorized chart should assess whether they can file an otherwise valid application before the month’s filing window closes. The possibility of later unavailability is not itself a reason to delay an eligible filing.

Rashmi Bishnoi, an immigration attorney, said the warning “makes the situation more urgent.” She advised applicants with current dates to follow up proactively on medical requests for evidence and background-check delays.

“makes the situation more urgent”

The warning concerns visa-number supply, while individual cases may also face document, medical or security-review issues. Resolving those issues can help prevent a separate delay if a number becomes available.

USCIS data for the first quarter of fiscal year 2026 showed EB-1A approval rates at approximately 47%, down from over 53% in late 2025. Those figures concern petition adjudications, not the availability of immigrant visa numbers under the bulletin.

The two processes should not be treated as interchangeable. Petition approval establishes the classification. Filing creates the adjustment case. Visa-number availability controls the final stage.

The next bulletin will show whether the warning becomes a cutoff

The department’s warning does not state that the category will definitely become unavailable. It describes a possible result if India’s prorated allocation is reached before September 30.

Applicants therefore face a short monitoring period before the fiscal year ends. The next annual allocation begins October 1, 2026, but the new fiscal year alone will not determine the exact cutoff date.

A pending adjustment case can continue through a period of retrogression or unavailability, while employment authorization and advance parole remain tied to their individual validity periods. The approved petition also remains a separate matter from the visa number required for final approval.

The bulletin’s warning puts the timing issue on the record: high demand could exhaust the prorated allocation before September 30, even as applicants continue moving through different stages of the green-card process.