United States | EB-5 visa update for May 2025 shows six-month retrogression for India

The 2025 May Visa Bulletin shows a six-month retrogression in the EB-5 unreserved visa category preference for India. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced all employment-based preference categories must use the Final Action Dates chart in the bulletin.

Key Points:

• In the April Visa Bulletin, unreserved EB-5 visas for India substantially retrogressed from Jan. 1, 2022, to Nov. 1, 2019. The retrogression continues in the May Visa Bulletin from Nov. 1, 2019, to May 1, 2019.
• The State Department explained that “high demand and number use by India in the EB-5 unreserved visa categories, combined with increased Rest of World demand and number use, made it necessary to further retrogress the India final action date to hold number use within the maximum allowed under the FY-2025 annual limits.”
• All other EB-5 categories remained the same with no advancement or retrogression.
• The EB-5 unreserved visa category applies to investments made in non-targeted employment areas or infrastructure, or made prior to the enactment of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022.

Additional Information: The State Department also noted that it may become necessary to establish a Final Action Date for Rest of World countries if demand and number use continues to increase.

Final Action Dates for the other employment-based visa preference categories in the 2025 May Visa Bulletin remained the same except for modest advancement in the EB-3 visa category for India.

This alert has been provided by the BAL U.S. Practice Group.

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