The US State Department released the first visa bulletin of 2026, promising good news for Indian Green Card applicants falling in the category of EB-1, as their Final Action Dates moved by one year, meaning that the waiting time to get a Green Card will be reduced. For EB-1 category India, the final action date in the January 2026 bulletin moved almost a year to February 1, 2023. Extraordinary individuals like senior researchers, managers, founders etc fall under this category. This category receives 28.6% of the annual employment-based green card quota.
Final Action Date movement:
EB1 China: Forward to Feb 1, 2023EB1 India: Forward almost a year to Feb 1, 2023EB2 ROW (Rest of World): Forward to Apr 1, 2024EB2 China: Forward to September 1, 2021EB2 India: Forward to July 15, 2013 (plus 2 months)EB3 ROW: Ahead about a week to April 22, 2023EB3 China: Forward one month to May 1, 2021EB3 India: Forward about 2 months to November 15, 2013EB4 for all countries is forward a few months to January 1, 2021EB5 Unreserved China forward about 1 month to August 15, 2016EB5 Unreserved India forward to May 1 2022EB5 Set Asides are still current for allBut there has been no movement in family-based categories. The visa bulletin is crucial as the Donald Trump administration is cracking down on immigration, both legal and illegal, and trying to stop people from coming to the country. While the visa bulletin is for Green Card applicants and not for non-immigrant visa holders (like H-1B etc), the January visa bulletin benefits employment-based applicants, particularly high-skilled professionals, while family-based categories continue to face long backlogs.
