The US State Department’s November Visa Bulletin, released overnight, delivered the most significant movement for Indian family-sponsored applicants in more than two years. The F2A category—spouses and minor children of permanent residents—advanced to a ‘Current’ priority date for the first time since early 2024, while the F1 (unmarried adult sons and daughters of US citizens) leapt forward five months to 1 January 2016. Modest gains were also recorded in F2B and F3. Although employment-based categories remain retrogressed, the family shifts will unlock thousands of interview slots at the Mumbai consulate in early 2027. Immigration lawyers estimate that nearly 45,000 India-born applicants sit in the F2A queue alone; many had resorted to long-term B-visa shuttling to stay close to spouses in the US. Consular posts in New Delhi and Hyderabad are preparing weekend staffing to manage the surge. For global employers, the bulletin offers a retention tool: Indian employees holding green-card petitions for spouses can now expect faster family reunification, reducing pressure to accept assignments in Canada or the UK instead. However, practitioners caution that the relief could be short-lived if USCIS visa-number usage accelerates beyond projections, triggering a corrective ‘retrogression’ in early 2027. Companies are advised to remind eligible workers to file adjustment packages as soon as USCIS confirms the ‘Dates for Filing’ chart, and to review travel plans because leaving the US during adjustment without advance parole can jeopardise the process.
Source: The Economic Times
