The US Department of State’s October 2026 Visa Bulletin, released late on 1 October (early 2 October IST), brought welcome relief for highly skilled Indian professionals. The employment-based second preference (EB-2) category, closed since June, is once again “Current,” allowing Indian applicants with approved immigrant petitions to file for adjustment of status or immigrant-visa processing, provided their priority dates are current. The employment-based first preference (EB-1) India Final Action Date, meanwhile, moved forward six months to 1 January 2019. EB-3 India held at 1 January 2014. October marks the first month of the US government’s 2027 fiscal year, when annual immigrant-visa quotas reset. According to State Department officials, unused worldwide numbers from FY 2026 have flowed into EB-1 and EB-2, enabling the advance. How long the window stays open will depend on demand; in FY 2026, EB-2 India consumed its allocation by mid-year, triggering a cut-off. For Indian employers—from Silicon Valley tech firms to mid-cap consultancies—the development means hundreds of long-backlogged employees can finally file the last step toward permanent residence, securing employment authorisation and travel permission for family members. Immigration attorneys urge companies to act quickly: “File in October while the door is open; the category could retrogress again as early as January,” warns a leading San Jose practitioner. Human-resources teams should coordinate immediately with counsel to assemble medical exams, Supplement J job-offer confirmations, and updated prevailing-wage compliance evidence. Dependents should ensure passports have at least twelve months’ validity to avoid RFEs. Applicants outside the US will need to pay close attention to National Visa Center fee-payment windows, as consular slots at the US Embassy in New Delhi and the five consulates remain tight. Longer term, Indian industry groups continue to lobby Washington for legislative fixes—such as the proposed EAGLE Act—to eliminate per-country caps. With a divided US Congress, however, policy watchers see little movement this year, making timing strategies around the monthly bulletin as critical as ever.
Source: Business Today
