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The U.S. Department of State (DOS) publishes current immigrant visa availability information on its Visa Bulletin. The Visa Bulletin shows when immigrant visas are available for issuance to prospective immigrants based on their individual priority dates. Every month, the DOS publishes two charts per visa preference category on its Visa Bulletin. The charts are based on the Application Final Dates and Dates for Filing Applications.

The Final Action Dates chart illustrates the dates when visas may finally be issued, and the Dates for Filing Applications demonstrate the earliest dates when applicants may be able to apply. 

USCIS has decided to continue to use the Final Action Dates for Employment-Based Adjustment of Status Applications. Moreover, USCIS has also decided to continue to follow the Dates for Filing for Family-Sponsored Adjustment of Status Applications table.  While the April 2025 visa bulletin demonstrates movement dates for individuals across the globe, this article will specifically focus on the dates that impact Indian nationals.

Family-Sponsored Preference Cases Specific for Indian Nationals. / USCIS

• Family-based First Preference Category (F-1 – Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens): India’s visa cut-off date will remain on September 1, 2017.
• Family-based Second Preference Category (F2A – Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents): India’s visa cut-off date also advances a few months to October 15, 2024. 
• Family-based Second Preference Category (F2B – Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older) of Permanent Residents: India’s visa cut-off date will remain on January 1, 2017.
• Family-based Third Preference Category (F3 – Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens): India’s visa cut-off date stays the same on July 22, 2012.  
• Family-based Fourth Preference Category (F4 – Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens): India’s visa cut-off date advances to October 01, 2006 

 

Employment-Sponsored Preference Cases Specific for Indian Nationals. / USCIS

• Employment-based First (Priority Workers): There is a small change in the EB-1 cutoff dates for April. For India, the visa availability date advances a few days to February 15, 2022.   
• Employment-based Second (Members of the Professions Holding Advanced Degrees or Persons of Exceptional Ability): India’s visa availability advances one month to January 1, 2013.  
• Employment-based Third (Skilled Workers, Professionals) India’s visa cut-off date moves up a few months to April 01, 2013. This is the same for EB-3 Other Workers as well.  
• Employment-based Fourth (Certain Special Immigrants): On February 28, 2025, U.S. Department of State announced that due to overwhelming demand and use throughout the first half of fiscal year 2025, it has exhausted all the visa numbers in this preference category and for the rest of the year, and there would be no visas that can be issued in these categories for the remainder of the fiscal year 2025.  The annual limits will reset with the start of the new fiscal year (FY 2026) on October 1, 2025. 
• Certain Religious Workers: The visa availability for certain religious workers has also been declared unavailable for the remaining fiscal year 2025.  
• Employment-based Fifth (Employment Creation – which is the EB-5 immigrant investor visa category): The EB-5 date retrogressed to November 1, 2019 - it was on January 1, 2022, in the March 2025 visa bulletin.   Finally, in the Final Action Dates chart for EB5 Set Asides (which covers Rural, and High Unemployment, and Infrastructure areas) for Indian born applicants, the visa number continue to remain ‘Current.’

Even in the first few months of the new Fiscal Year 2025, the U.S. Department of State is still doing its best to try and keep the various employment-based visa numbers in steady movement and to not have the visa numbers be used up too quickly. Even so, the Department of State had to either make certain visas unavailable (i.e., EB-4 visa category), or retrogress severely (i.e., EB-5 visa category).  But with still high demand for these visas, the Department of State will continue to be cautious in how it sets its monthly visa number goals. It will be interesting to see if India will still have steady movements in the coming months, because it is not certain if the Department of State will have enough leeway to move ahead with more visa movement advancements starting in October 2024 and through the next few months.  But it will also be important to keep track of how USCIS decides to either use Dates of Filing or Final Action Dates table as we move further into FY 2025 and through the upcoming few months.

Clement C. Chang Esq is a Senior Associate at Pasricha & Patel, LLC. He has spent several years providing exceptional legal services in employment-based immigration, labor certification, family-based immigration, and immigrant and nonimmigrant visa petitions.  Visit Pasricha & Patel, LLC’s website here: www.pasricha.com