The United States has reached its annual limit on EB-5 “unreserved” immigrant visas for applicants from India and has stopped issuing further visas in this category for the remainder of fiscal year 2026, according to the U.S. State Department.
In the update, State Council Confirm that as of June 5, all available EB-5 unreserved visas allocated to Indian nationals have been issued. Therefore, U.S. embassies and consulates are no longer able to issue visas in this category until the start of the new fiscal year.
What does the State Department say?
Working side by side with the U.S. State Department U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) states that exhaustion of the quota is subject to statutory limitations under immigration law.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), employment-based immigrant visas are capped each fiscal year. The EB-5 category receives 7.1% of the global employment visa limit, with 68% allocated to the “unreserved” categories, including C5, T5, I5, R5, RU and NU.
The department also said that unused retention visas from fiscal year 2024 have been added to the fiscal year 2026 allocation under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022. However, demand from Indian applicants still exceeds the available quota.
Impact on Indian applicants
The suspension is also related to country visa restrictions under U.S. immigration laws.
Under INA 202(a)(2), no one country may obtain more than 7% of the total number of employment- and family-sponsored immigrant visas in a year.
due to demand EB-5 All Application volumes from Indian applicants remain high, and India’s quota is exhausted earlier than in many other countries. Once the annual limit is reached, no more visas can be issued in that category for the remainder of the financial year.
What happens next and why October is important
According to the State Department, the pause is temporary and tied to the U.S. fiscal calendar.
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“Because all available EB-5 unreserved visas for applicants charging fees to India in fiscal year 2026 have been used, embassies and consulates may not issue visas in these categories for the remainder of the fiscal year,” the department said.
Visa issuance will resume on October 1, 2026, the beginning of fiscal year 2027, when new annual appropriations become available and embassies can begin processing eligible EB-5 petitions again.
