Green card, H-1B aspirants dismayed over May 2025 visa bulletin, raises worries of Indians

The US Department of State has released its visa bulletin for May 2025, and the updates bring disappointing news for Indian nationals pursuing H-1B visas and employment-based green cards. 

Notably, there has been a significant retrogression in the EB-5 (employment-based fifth preference) category for Indian applicants. The EB-5 Unreserved category for India has been pushed back by more than six months, with the new cut-off date set at May 1, 2019. In contrast, China's cut-off date remains unchanged on January 22, 2014.

There is no change in the EB1 category. The EB1 cutoff date for India remains on February 2, 2022. EB1 for China is on November 8, 2022. The EB1 category remains current for all other countries.

“High demand and number use by India in the EB-5 unreserved visa categories, combined with increased Rest of World demand and number use, made it necessary to further retrogress the India final action date to hold number use within the maximum allowed under the FY-2025 annual limits,” said United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

There has been no movement in the Employment-Based Second Preference (EB2) category, with India’s cutoff date remaining at January 1, 2013, China’s at October 1, 2020, and all other countries holding steady at June 22, 2023. In the Employment-Based Third Preference (EB3) category, India’s cutoff date sees a slight advancement to April 15, 2013, while China remains unchanged on November 1, 2020, and all other countries continue with a cutoff date of January 1, 2023.