EB-1 Green Cards for Indians may become unavailable before September 30, 2026, as the US State Department has warned that high demand could exhaust the category’s available visa numbers before the end of the fiscal year.
The warning adds fresh uncertainty for Indian professionals waiting for permanent residency through the employment-based immigration system.
The fiscal year ends on September 30, after which a new annual allocation begins.
EB-1 Green Cards for Indians face availability warning
EB-1 is the first preference category for employment-based US green cards.
It covers people with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, as well as certain multinational executives and managers.
The September 2026 Visa Bulletin lists the EB-1 final action date for India as October 15, 2022.
This means visa numbers are currently available only to applicants whose priority dates are earlier than that date.
The State Department has warned that continued demand could use up India’s available EB-1 numbers before September 30.
If that happens, the category could become temporarily unavailable for Indian applicants until additional numbers become available in the new fiscal year.
Why Indian applicants are under pressure
The situation is linked to high demand for employment-based immigrant visas and statutory limits on the number of visas that can be issued each year.
Indian applicants have faced particularly long waits because of the large number of employment-based green card applications from the country.
The pressure is not limited to EB-1. In the September 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-2 for India is listed as unavailable, while the EB-3 final action date for Indian applicants is January 1, 2014.
This means Indian professionals across several employment-based categories are dealing with significant visa backlogs, making movement in available visa numbers especially important.
What happens if EB-1 becomes unavailable
If the EB-1 India allocation is exhausted before September 30, eligible applicants who cannot receive a visa number in the current fiscal year may have to wait until numbers become available under the next fiscal year’s allocation.
The warning does not mean that every Indian EB-1 applicant will immediately lose eligibility or that existing applications will be cancelled.
The impact depends on an applicant’s priority date, case status and availability of visa numbers.
Applicants should therefore continue monitoring the US Visa Bulletin and relevant immigration instructions as the September 30 fiscal-year deadline approaches.
What Indian green card applicants should know
EB-1 Green Cards for Indians remain subject to the same visa-number availability system that determines when eligible applicants can move forward.
A priority date becoming current is an important step, but it does not by itself guarantee approval of a green card.
For Indian professionals already pursuing EB-1, the latest warning highlights the importance of tracking monthly visa updates closely.
Immigration cases can involve individual circumstances, so applicants should rely on current government guidance when deciding what action to take.
