E-Paper
USCIS Visa Bulletin June 2025: No good news for Indian green card applicants, delays to continue
The US Visa Bulletin for June 2025 was released by the US Department of State, offering no significant relief for Indian nationals awaiting green cards.
The US Visa Bulletin for June 2025 was released by the US Department of State, offering no significant relief for Indian nationals awaiting green cards. The wait times are likely to continue due to over-subscription for the employment-based (EB) immigration process. The bulletin, published monthly to outline visa availability, shows minimal advancement in priority dates for key categories like EB-2 and EB-3, critical for Indian professionals seeking permanent residency.
USCIS Visa Bulletin June 2025: Key takeaways
EB-1 (Priority Workers): India’s cutoff remains at February 15, 2022, with no advancement, even for extraordinary ability applicants.
EB-2 (Advanced Degrees): Stuck at January 1, 2013, unchanged from May, signaling 12+ year waits for tech professionals. Filing dates at February 1, 2013, allow earlier submissions.
Read More: UK gets tough on Immigration with 5 big proposed changes; New Visa rules
EB-3 (Skilled Workers): Advances slightly to April 15, 2013, from March 2013, but backlogs persist. Filing date: June 8, 2013.
EB-5 (Investors): Unreserved cutoff at May 1, 2019, with Rural/High Unemployment categories “Current,” offering some investor pathways.
Family-Sponsored: F2A (spouses of residents) at January 1, 2022, with filing at February 1, 2025, shows similar delays.
What is causing the delay?
The backlog stems from the 7% per-country cap on green cards, which allocates the same number of visas to India as smaller nations, despite India’s high demand. With over 1 million Indian applicants in the queue, primarily in EB-2 and EB-3, the annual limit of roughly 140,000 employment-based visas cannot keep pace. The Trump administration’s immigration policies, including stricter H-1B renewals and proposed merit-based reforms, have further slowed processing, prioritizing U.S. workers. The bulletin notes no spillover of unused visas from other countries.
US Government Employee Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs)
“The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2024, signed into law on December 22, 2023, may affect certain current and former employees of the U.S. Government abroad, as well as certain surviving spouses and children of deceased employees of the U.S. government abroad, applying for SIVs or adjustment of status,” the USCIS wrote in its release.
