The U.S. Department of State, in conjunction with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), has confirmed that all available immigrant visas in the Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2) category have been issued for the fiscal year (FY) 2025. Consequently, U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide have immediately ceased issuing new EB-2 visas.
This pause in visa issuance will remain in effect until the new fiscal year begins on October 1, 2025, when a new supply of visas will become available, and processing can resume for qualified applicants.
This development was not a surprise. Back in July, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs had issued a warning in its August 2025 Visa Bulletin, alerting the public that both the EB-2 and EB-3 green card categories were at risk of becoming unavailable.
The bulletin cited an “unprecedented surge” in visa and green card usage, which was rapidly depleting the approximately 140,000 employment-based visas allocated for the fiscal year, a limit that includes a 7% per-country cap. As a direct result of this high demand, the final action date for EB-2 visas for “Rest of World” applicants had already retrogressed by six weeks, a clear sign of the impending shortage.
The Department of State had announced in February that the annual limit for the Employment-Based Fourth Preference (EB-4) category, also known as Special Immigrant Visas, had been reached within just five months of the fiscal year. This category, which is allocated 7.1% of the total employment-based visas (approximately 9,940 visas), had its cap reached much earlier this year compared to the end of August in the previous year.
According to the March Visa Bulletin, the final action date for this category was August 1, 2019, meaning applicants face an approximate 4.5-year wait. For those already in the U.S. applying for adjustment of status, the wait time is even longer as USCIS is using the final action date for filing, not the more recent filing date.
Kishor Panthi
View More PostsKishor Panthi is the founder and editor-in-chief of Khasokhas and NepYork. He is the author of three books, “Kampan,” "UNTRANSLATABLE" and “Zero Mile.” He writes about social issues, immigration, and politics.
