The US Department of State has exhausted all available immigrant visas under the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) unreserved category for Indian applicants for FY26. According to reports from Business Standard, the State Department announced on June 10 that working with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), it had already used all available immigrant visa numbers as of June 5. The department stated that since all available EB-5 unreserved visas for applicants chargeable to India in FY 2026 have been used, embassies and consulates may not issue visas in these categories for the remainder of the fiscal year. This development underscores the continued demand for investor immigration among Indian applicants, with the exhaustion reflecting both sustained interest and the impact of country-specific restrictions under US immigration law. The Economic Times reports confirm that this represents the growing demand for the EB-5 route among Indian applicants, with the cap being reached meaning the number of available visas for India under this category has already been exhausted for the year.
The restriction applies specifically to the unreserved EB-5 stream, which includes categories C5, T5, I5, R5, RU and NU, accounting for most traditional EB-5 allocations. As reported by Business Standard, the announcement affects Indian investors and their families who were planning to obtain permanent residency in the United States through investment-linked immigration. The current pause does not amount to a suspension of the broader EB-5 programme, but rather affects only the unreserved categories that represent the majority of traditional EB-5 allocations. EB-5 visas represent 7.1 percent of the worldwide employment-based immigrant visa allocation, with unreserved categories receiving 68 percent of the total EB-5 visa numbers under the Immigration and Nationality Act. According to Economic Times, the pause will mainly affect Indian investors who were waiting for visa issuance under the unreserved EB-5 category, with their applications remaining in the system but final visa issuance unable to happen until fresh visa numbers become available from October 1.
Annual limits will reset at the beginning of FY27 on October 1, 2026, after which visa issuance may resume for eligible applicants. According to Business Standard, the State Department noted that unused reserved EB-5 visas from FY24 could be added into FY26 unreserved allocations under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, but even with that additional pool, Indian demand exhausted available numbers. For applicants waiting for consular processing under the affected category, no fresh immigrant visas will be issued before October. The per-country cap built into US immigration law generally limits immigrant visas to seven percent of the worldwide total for family-sponsored and employment-based immigration categories combined, with countries experiencing high demand reaching their limits more quickly than others. As reported by Economic Times, visa issuance is expected to resume once the annual limits reset in FY 2027, with qualified applicants able to receive visas depending on availability and priority dates.
This development comes at a time when several employment-based visa categories for Indians are under heavy backlog pressure, with the US also reaching the FY 2026 limit for EB-2 immigrant visas for Indian applicants, pausing further issuance until October 1, 2026. According to Economic Times, the EB-5 visa is one of the popular green card routes for wealthy investors, allowing foreign nationals to get permanent residency in the US by making a qualifying investment in an American business and creating jobs for US workers. The EB-5 investor route forms part of the broader US immigration framework and falls under employment-based visa classifications, offering a route to lawful permanent residence for qualifying investors and their families, though it remains subject to numerical restrictions established by Congress. The development shows that even investment-based immigration routes are becoming increasingly competitive for Indians as demand for US green cards continues to rise, with the US having already indicated in recent visa bulletins that EB-5 demand from India was increasing and that the situation was being closely monitored.
