India's EB-1 and EB-2 Just Got Slammed. If You're on a Green Card Wait, Read This Today.

June 2026 | Immigration | 6 min read

If you're an Indian professional working in the US on an H-1B visa and waiting for your green card — you probably already felt the gut punch when the June 2026 Visa Bulletin dropped.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's the short version: it's bad. Really bad. And it happened almost overnight.

Let's break down exactly what happened, who it affects, and — most importantly — what you can actually do about it right now.

What Even Is "Retrogression"? (Quick, Plain English Version)

Think of the green card process like a very long queue at a government office. You take a token number the day you file your paperwork — that's called your "priority date." You can only move forward when the date on the board is equal to or ahead of your token number.

Retrogression is when that board suddenly moves backward.

It's like waiting in line for two hours, almost reaching the counter, and then being told: "Sorry, the queue has been reset. Go back to where you were six months ago."

That's what just happened to thousands of Indian professionals in the EB-1 and EB-2 categories.

What Exactly Changed in the June 2026 Bulletin?

The June 2026 Visa Bulletin brought sharp news: EB-2 India retrogressed by more than 10 months, pushing the Final Action Date back to September 1, 2013. EB-1 India retrogressed by three and a half months, moving back to December 15, 2022. Fragomen

Let that sink in. The EB-2 date — which was already sitting at July 2014 — just got pushed back to September 2013. That's over a decade ago.

Here's a simple breakdown of where things stand right now:

EB-1 India → Now at December 15, 2022 (was April 1, 2023) EB-2 India → Now at September 1, 2013 (was July 15, 2014) EB-3 India → Moved slightly forward to December 15, 2013 (a rare silver lining)

For everyone else in the world — EB-1 is still current. EB-2 is still current. This pain is almost exclusively for people born in India.

Why Did This Happen?

The reason this wait feels endless is a combination of two things: a strict 7% per-country limit on employment-based green cards, and the complete exhaustion of post-pandemic spillover visas. While demand from Indian professionals is higher than ever, the extra visas the US previously borrowed from the family-based category have officially dried up in 2026. EB1A Experts

There are roughly one million Indian-born professionals in the US waiting in the green card backlog. The annual supply of visas for India has not changed. So every time more people file, the queue gets longer and the dates go back further.

Post-pandemic normalization hit hard — the bonus visas seen in 2021 and 2022 due to closed consulates have now completely dried up. More applicants are using premium processing for I-140s, leading to a faster-growing official backlog. And with shifts in the tech sector, more professionals are prioritizing green card security, leading to a higher rate of PERM-to-green-card filings. EB1A Experts

Translation: More people are in the queue, and the number of available slots hasn't grown. The math just doesn't work.

Who Does This Hurt the Most?

If you are a person born in India and you fall into one of these groups, this directly affects you:

Group 1 — People who were close to filing their I-485 (Adjustment of Status) You may have been days or weeks away from being able to file. Now you have to wait again. The Dates for Filing chart — which previously allowed early filing — is also not available for employment-based categories this month.

Group 2 — People already waiting for final approval Your I-485 is filed, but you're waiting for a visa number to become available. The sharp retrogression in EB-2 India will impact thousands of adjustment applicants and may delay final green card approval for many already in the pipeline. WR Immigration

Group 3 — People in India considering moving to the US on a work visa This affects your long-term planning. The backlog is so large that getting a green card through EB-2 could realistically take another decade, possibly longer.

Group 4 — Children of H-1B holders This is the one that doesn't get talked about enough. Children who turn 21 can "age out" of their parent's green card petition and lose their place entirely. With retrogression, more children are at risk of losing status before their parents' cases move forward.

The Warning That Nobody Wants to Hear

The State Department was unusually direct in the June bulletin: high demand and increased visa number usage have made it necessary to retrogress the final action dates. They warned that further retrogressions — or making the categories completely "unavailable" — may be necessary in the coming months if India's pro-rated limits in EB-1 or EB-2 are reached before the fiscal year ends on September 30, 2026. U.S. Department of State

"Unavailable" means the category shuts down entirely. No filings. No approvals. Nothing — until October 2026 when the new fiscal year starts.

EB-2 India could drift all the way back into 2012 before the fiscal year ends, with a real risk of becoming "unavailable" in September. Immi-USA

If you've been planning around a specific filing window, that window may close.

5 Things You Can Actually Do Right Now

Here's what immigration attorneys are telling their clients:

1. Check Your Priority Date Today — Not Tomorrow Log into your attorney's portal or check your I-140 approval notice. Your priority date is written there. Compare it to the current Final Action Date for your category. If your date is earlier than the cutoff, you may still be able to file or take action.

2. Talk to Your Lawyer About EB-3 Downgrade With EB-2 India retrogressing nearly a year while EB-3 India inches forward, the EB-3 downgrade window is more attractive than it has been in some time — particularly for applicants with late-2013 to early-2014 priority dates. Immi-USA

Downgrading from EB-2 to EB-3 sounds counterintuitive, but if EB-3's date is closer to your priority date, it can actually get you to the finish line faster. This is a real strategy that many attorneys are recommending right now.

3. Look Seriously at EB-5 If You Have the Capital For EB-5 investors, the reserved set-aside categories — Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure — remain fully current for all countries, including India. That means if you qualify and can invest, EB-5 is currently one of the only pathways without a backlog for Indian nationals. The investment threshold is $800,000 for targeted employment areas. EB5 Visa Investments

4. Explore EB-1A (Extraordinary Ability) If You Qualify Many AI engineers, product leaders, and senior technologists qualify for EB-1A using evidence such as high-impact work, critical roles, patents, commercial success, and media coverage. EB-1A doesn't require employer sponsorship. If your career qualifies, this is worth investigating seriously — even though EB-1 India also retrogressed, the date is still significantly ahead of EB-2. EB1A Experts

5. Lock In Your EAD and Advance Parole Renewal Early If your I-485 is already filed, your Employment Authorization Document (EAD) and Advance Parole (travel permission) are tied to it. Do not let these expire. Renew early — months before the expiry date — because USCIS processing times can be unpredictable, and losing your EAD means losing your ability to work legally until it's renewed.

What About October 2026?

There's a small light at the end of the tunnel. The US government's immigration fiscal year resets on October 1, 2026. When that happens, a fresh batch of visa numbers becomes available, and dates typically move forward again.

The October 2026 reset should bring partial recovery, likely pushing the EB-2 India date toward mid-2014. Immi-USA

But here's the honest truth: that's a temporary relief. The structural problem — the 7% per-country cap, the millions in the backlog, the limited annual supply — none of that changes in October. The queue will still be there. The math will still be painful.

For Families in India Reading This

If your son or daughter is in the US on an H-1B, and you've been wondering when they'll finally "settle down" with a green card — this is why it's taking so long.

This isn't about their qualifications. It's not about their job performance. It's about a system where approximately one million Indian-born professionals are competing for a share of roughly 9,800 employment-based visas per year — the same number as a country with one-hundredth the applicants.

Immigration attorneys describe the employment-based queue for Indians as "structurally frozen." Family-based queues, though long, are inching forward. Employment-based queues are a different story entirely. VisaHQ

The advice for families right now is to encourage your children to stay in close contact with their immigration attorney, renew their H-1B status on time, and explore every legal alternative available to them.

The Bottom Line

The June 2026 Visa Bulletin was a body blow for Indian professionals. The EB-2 India date going back 10 months to September 2013 is the biggest single-month retrogression in recent memory. EB-1 going back too — a category that was once considered the "fast lane" — shows how serious the demand pressure has become.

For Indian nationals in those categories, the ground shifted overnight. EB-5 USA

You didn't do anything wrong. The system is just broken in ways that take years, sometimes decades, to fix.

What you can do is stay informed, act quickly when opportunities open, and work with a qualified immigration attorney to make sure you're not leaving any options on the table.

If your priority date is anywhere near the current cutoff, don't wait. The window can close faster than anyone expects — and this month's bulletin proved exactly that.

Have questions about your specific case? Drop them in the comments below or consult a licensed immigration attorney. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

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