By: Raja Zahid Akhtar Khanzada
Washington: The May 2025 U.S. Visa Bulletin, released from Washington, D.C., has struck Indian professionals like a bolt from the blue a sudden earthquake shaking the carefully built architecture of dreams, effort, and sacrifice. For thousands of Indian applicants standing in the long and winding lines of U.S. immigration, this bulletin comes not as a routine update, but as a cruel jolt to hope itself.
The harshest blow has landed on those applying under the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5), where the cutoff date for Indian nationals has been rolled back by more than six months. What was previously set at November 1, 2019, now abruptly stands at May 1, 2019. In stark contrast, China’s cutoff date remains frozen at January 22, 2014—yet again erecting an invisible wall of discrimination between two of Asia’s most populous nations.
But this backward shift is more than a technical adjustment it is a wound upon the future of thousands of families. U.S. officials cite the growing demand from India in the EB-5 category and the overwhelming number of applications from across the globe as the main reasons behind this abrupt decision. According to them, this reset was essential to remain within the annual numerical visa limits set by law. Elsewhere too, the visa terrain looks barren for Indian applicants. Under the EB-1 category (for top-tier skilled individuals), India’s cutoff date remains frozen at February 2, 2022. No movement, no progress—just silence.
In EB-2 (for those with advanced degrees or exceptional abilities), the date stubbornly stays at January 1, 2013 an entire decade-old position, left untouched.
EB-3 (for professionals and skilled workers) shows only a flicker of mercy: a slight two-week advancement to April 15, 2013. But even this feels less like a balm and more like a whisper of hope in a storm.
Perhaps the most shocking revelation of all was this: the EB-4 category (Special Immigrants) has completely run out of visas for the current fiscal year. All available numbers were exhausted by February 28, 2025. This category now stands fully closed until September 30, 2025.
Immigration experts warn that this visa bulletin reflects a deeper truth: a tightening of U.S. immigration policy that no longer targets only the undocumented, but increasingly impacts skilled, educated, and lawful aspirants as well.
Notably, the EB-5 visa was originally designed for those willing to invest substantial funds into the U.S.especially in rural or high-unemployment areas, or infrastructure projects. But it seems that even money is no longer a key that unlocks America’s gates.
In its announcement, the State Department clarified that for fiscal year 2025, the cap for family-sponsored immigrants is 226,000, while 140,000 visas are allocated for employment-based immigrants. No single country may receive more than 7% of the total meaning a hard limit of 25,620 visas. For a nation like India, this ceiling feels almost cruelly insufficient.
The monthly visa bulletin is more than just a government document it’s a heartbeat for thousands of families across the globe. Every date in it is a turning point: of someone’s future, someone’s patience, someone’s dream.
And now, as these dates slip backward rather than forward, it seems the road to permanent residence in America is becoming not only longer, but darker.
This may be just a bureaucratic publication but behind it are stories. Stories of separation, waiting, and a quiet faith that maybe next month will bring better news.
