US Visa Bulletin, June 2025: Indian Green Card Applicants Lagging Behind

The US Visa Bulletin for June 2025 has been published, and precious little good news for Indian nationals in the employment green card backlog. While there has not been much movement in the last two months, today’s bulletin has none in the priority categories, with each Final Action Date not moving. It is a wait of a lifetime, an open-ended wait to be irreversibly accepted as U.S. citizens, for Indian professionals and their families numbering half a million.

What is the Visa Bulletin?

The Visa Bulletin is the official U.S. Department of State monthly report. It takes into account immigrant visa availability (green cards) in family-preference and employment-based preference. It is a guide to follow when deciding whether to proceed with the application process.

Terms Used in the Bulletin

• Priority Date: The date your petition or your labour certification was filed. It is your place in the green card line.
• Final Action Date: The date when a green card can be approved. If your priority date is before the Final Action Date, your case can be processed.
• Date for Filing: Earliest filing date for your documents to change status or file an immigrant visa petition.

Snapshot of Employment-Based Categories as of June 2025

The following snapshot presents the principal employment-based green card categories and where they stand now for Indian petitioners as of June 2025.

EB-1: Priority Workers

• Final Action Date for India: February 15, 2022
• Date for Filing for India: April 15, 2022

The EB-1 category comprises persons of high-rated professions, such as senior professors and researchers and multinational executives and senior managers. There have been no changes in this category, and the dates froze several months ago.

EB-2: People of Advanced Qualifications

• Final Action Date for India: January 1, 2013
• Date for Filing for India: February 1, 2013

Advanced degree graduates or individuals of exceptional ability under the EB-2 category were not mentioned. Indian petitioners with priority dates earlier than the first quarter of 2013 remain waiting.

EB-3: Skilled Workers and Professionals

• Final Action Date for India: April 15, 2013
• Date for Filing for India: June 8, 2013

As is the case with EB-2, even EB-3 is stalled. Overwhelming demand and a growing backlog have caused progress to be halted in the preference category.

EB-5: Immigrant Investors

• Final Action Date for India (Unreserved): May 1, 2019
• Date for Filing (Unreserved): May 1, 2021

EB-5 retrogressed, and the Final Action Date retrogressed. i.e., demand is higher and ceilings are reached in the category, particularly on non-reserved petitioners.

Why Are There Delays?

1. Per-Country Limits

American immigration law restricts the number of green cards provided to the citizens of any country within one year to roughly 7% of the entire country. Big countries with enormous populations, like India, tend to make the waiting period exorbitantly long compared to small nations.

2. Gross Over-Subscription in the Employment Categories

India has a gigantic reservoir of highly skilled professionals, particularly in medical and technical professions. EB-2 and EB-3 preference categories are thus full of petitioners at least several times in one year.

3. Limits on Visa Supplies

Fewer than 140,000 employment-based green cards are available each year. So many Indians have been waiting that the demand is so much greater than the supply.

4. Processing Delays

USCIS also brings over last year’s backlogs and hiring issues to deal with. Adjustment of status cases remain an overly slow process, which is also causing the general slowdown.

Impact on Indian Green Card Applicants

Reasonable Delays

Processing wait time in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories is over a decade. Petitioners who had previous cut-off dates, such as before 2013, are being given final adjudication only now.

Uncertainty and Family Separation

Waiting impacts more than just the lead petitioners, their dependents, and spouses. The families are put on hold for decades, usually with little career growth, mobility, and planning.

Ageing Out of Dependent Children

Dependent children of the H-1B workers who become 21 before processing of the green card lose their continuing dependent status in the US and plunge deep into problems in families.

 (FAQs)

Q1: Indian applicants are taking so much longer than others – why?

A: Due to the 7% per-country limit and extremely high demand in India, the backlog is now weighted heavily. That generates proportionate, lengthy waits for Indians, especially employment-based ones.

Q2: Will the green card backlog for India decline at some point shortly?

A: Other than using legislative reset or additional levels of work-based visas, not on an enormous scale. It will improve years from now, but deliverance is distant.

Q3: Is there any chance the applicants would need to downgrade to change categories so that they can streamline their green card process?

A: Yes, in some cases. EB-3 petitioners “downgrade” from EB-2 when that preference only recycles. However, procedural and legal obstacles must be overcome here, and such would have to be accomplished through the services of professionals alone.

Q4: What is retrogression, and why did it happen for EB-5 this month?

A: Visa demand imbalance leads to retrogression, resulting from the Final Action Date retrogression. EB-5 most recently retrogressed due to rising petitions from investors and thus increasing demand for visas.

Q5: What can the applicants do in the meantime?

A: The candidates can apply for their nonimmigrant status (e.g., H-1B), work authorisation extension (EAD), and dependent status. Crucially, they can also seek alternatives like employer-sponsored green cards abroad.

The. June. 2025. Visa. Bulletin. Once. Again. Commits. Us. Indian. Green. Card. Petitioners. Under. Employment. To. Suffer. Monumental. Delays. As. The. Final. Action. Dates. Are. Not. Advancing. and. retreating. In. EB-5, interim. Relief. Is. Only. Providing. Slight. Relief. For. The. Vast. Majority. Of. The. Indian. Professionals. Who. Have. Built. Life and. profession. Here. In. America, such. Delay. As. Long. As. This. Is—worrying and anxiety-prone.

Until immigration reform is implemented the way it should be, candidates will be compelled to keep turning and twisting, be nimble on their feet, and follow professional advice while attempting to demystify the mercurial and contradictory process.