The second preference employment based category for immigrant petitions for Indian nationals is expected to retrogress as early as November. The visa bulletin recently released shows India EB-2 petitions with a priority date of May 1, 2009 and earlier will be processed in October. However, due to current demand that priority date could retrogress as far back as early 2005 in November.
Additionally, the maximum number of Indian EB-2 immigrant visas for Fiscal Year 2014 has been reached. Accordingly, EB-2 visas will not be available for Indian applicants until October 1, 2014. Although the U.S. Immigration Service (USCIS) will continue to accept and process EB-2 India cases with priority dates earlier than May 1, 2009 during the month of September, those cases will be held in the Visa Office’s “Pending Demand” file until October 1.
In light of the expected retrogression, all eligible EB-2 India applicants are encouraged to file adjustment of status applications before the end of October.