US visa April 2025 bulletin: Interview wait time for Indians to go up | Here's why

The US Department of State released the April 2025 Visa Bulletin, introducing several changes to employment-based (EB) immigrant visa categories

Updated on: Mar 21, 2025, 12:54:23 IST

By HT News Desk

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The US Department of State released the April 2025 Visa Bulletin this week, introducing several changes to employment-based (EB) immigrant visa categories. India's EB-5 Unreserved category has retrogressed by over two years to November 1, 2019, while China's EB-5 Unreserved category has moved back approximately two and a half years to January 22, 2014.

The US State Department published the April 2025 visa bulletin this week (Representational Image)

Why US Visa April 2025 Bulletin is causing longer interview wait times | Explained

India’s EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories were advanced. EB-4 visas are currently unavailable for all countries until October 1, 2025.

The April 2025 Visa Bulletin shows significant retrogression in certain employment-based visa categories, particularly for India and China in the EB-5 Unreserved category. This means that applicants will face longer wait times, which can indirectly lead to an increased demand for interview slots.

Family-sponsored categories

A retrogression in family-sponsored categories is also set to contribute to longer processing times and potential increases in interview demand.

The visa bulletin mentions two important dates:

Final Action Dates: When your Green Card can be approved.

Dates for Filing: When you can submit your final application paperwork.

USCIS decides which date to use for employment-based green cards, and for April 2025, they are using the final action dates.

Family-based Green Cards (India):

Waiting Longer: Most family-based categories in India are seeing their wait times get longer.

Examples:

If you're an unmarried adult child of a US citizen (F1), the approval date has moved back, meaning you'll wait longer.

If you are a sibling of a US citizen, that category also moved backward, meaning longer wait times.

Even though some ‘Dates for filing’ moved forward, the final action dates are what matter for application approval.

FLAG deleting H-1B records

The Foreign Labor Access Gateway (FLAG) began deleting older case records starting March 20, 2025. This means if a case was finalized on March 22, 2020, it will be deleted on March 22, 2025.

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HT News Desk
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