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US Visa Bulletin June 2025: Delays persist for Indian green card seekers
The US Department of State's Visa Bulletin for June 2025, released on Tuesday, has provided no relief for Indian nationals seeking green cards. The bulletin indicates that delays will persist, particularly in the employment-based (EB) immigration process, which remains over-subscribed.
For key categories like EB-2 and EB-3—important for Indian professionals hoping to secure permanent residency—the priority dates have barely moved, with minimal progress in processing times.
USCIS Visa Bulletin June 2025: Key takeaways
EB-1 (Priority Workers): The cutoff for India remains at February 15, 2022, with no advancement. China's cutoff remains at November 8, 2022, while all other countries are current.
EB-2 (Advanced Degrees): India remains stuck at January 1, 2013, unchanged from May. This means a 12+ year wait for many tech professionals from India. Filing dates for India stand at February 1, 2013. China will see a two-month advancement, with the cutoff moving to December 1, 2020. Other countries will advance by almost four months, reaching October 15, 2023.
EB-3 (Skilled Workers): India remains at April 15, 2013. China will advance by three weeks to November 22, 2020. Other countries will see a five-week advancement to February 8, 2023.
EB-5 (Investors): For EB-5 Unreserved categories, China stays at January 22, 2014, while India remains at May 1, 2019. All other countries continue to be current. The EB-5 set-aside categories—Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure—will remain current.
Family-Sponsored: For F2A (spouses of residents), the cutoff remains at January 1, 2022, with filing at February 1, 2025, showing similar delays.
What is causing the delay?
The backlog in processing times is largely attributed to the 7% per-country cap on green cards, which treats India the same as smaller countries despite the high demand. With over a million Indian applicants primarily in EB-2 and EB-3 categories, the annual limit of about 140,000 employment-based green cards is unable to keep pace.
The Trump administration's stricter H-1B renewal policies and the push for merit-based reforms further slowed processing. No unused visas from other countries have spilled over into these categories, compounding the delays.
Breakdown of EB visa categories
EB-1: Priority workers, including researchers, professors, and executives.
EB-3: Professionals, skilled and unskilled workers.
EB-4: Special immigrants, including religious workers.
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