As President Donald Trump intensifies his immigration crackdown, the American dream is slipping further out of reach for thousands of Indians.
The latest Visa Bulletin for May 2025, released by the US Department of State, brings grim news — particularly for Indian applicants in the EB-5 employment-based visa category, which has seen a sharp retrogression.
According to the bulletin, the EB-5 Unreserved category for India has moved back by over six months, with a new final action date of May 1, 2019. In contrast, China’s cutoff remains at January 22, 2014.
The bulletin attributes the retrogression to high demand from India and increased usage by other countries, which has exceeded the annual cap set for fiscal year 2025.
"High demand and number use by India in the EB-5 unreserved visa categories, combined with increased Rest of World demand and number use, made it necessary to further retrogress the India final action date," the bulletin noted.
What May Visa Bulletin Say About Other Categories
Employment-Based, First Preference (EB-1) Category: There is no change for the EB-1 category as the cutoff date for India remains at February 2, 2022, while for China, it remains November 8, 2022. All other countries will continue to be current in the EB1 category.
Employment-Based, Second Preference (EB-2) Category: The EB-2 category will also remain unchanged for Indians and Chinese nationals. For India, the cutoff date remains January 1, 2013, while for China it remains October 1, 2020. The EB2 cutoff date for all other countries remains June 22, 2023.
Employment-Based, Third Preference (EB-3) Category: In the EB-3 category, India's cutoff date advances by two weeks, to April 15, 2013, while that of China remains November 1, 2020. The cutoff date of other countries remains at January 1, 2023.
EB-3 Other Workers: In the EB-3 other workers category for Indians, the cutoff date matches with the EB-3 category on April 15, 2013. For China, the cutoff date is April 1, 2017, while for all other countries, the date remains unchanged at May 22, 2021.
"The fiscal year 2025 limit for family-sponsored preference immigrants determined in accordance with Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is 226,000. The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000. Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7 per cent of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2 per cent, or 7,320," the bulletin added
Visa retrogression occurs when the number of applicants exceeds the available visas for a specific category or nationality, causing the cutoff dates to move backward. This typically happens near the end of a fiscal year as category or country quotas are exhausted.
Only applicants with a priority date earlier than the cutoff listed in the visa bulletin can move forward with permanent residency applications.
Since his return to the White House in January 2025, Trump has placed immigration back at the center of his policy agenda.
While the administration is known for its tough stance on illegal immigration, its broader "America First" approach is now impacting high-skilled immigration as well, tightening pathways even for legal employment-based migrants — especially from India.