State Department Announces FY 2025 Visa Limit Has Been Reached for the EB-2 Category

Quick Hits

• Numerical visa limits have been reached for EB-2 immigrant visas for FY 2025, which ends on September 30, 2025.
• No further immigrant visas or green cards will be issued for the EB-2 visa category until October 2025.

The availability of immigrant visa numbers for employment-based preference immigrants is governed by Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). For FY 2025, the numerical limit for employment-based preference immigrants has been set at 150,000 visas across all visa categories. Specifically, the EB-2 category is statutorily mandated to receive 28.6 percent of this number (42,900 immigrant visas). Once this numerical limit is reached, the category becomes unavailable until the next fiscal year, and no further permanent resident cards (green cards) will be issued for that preference category.

The annual numerical limit for employment-based immigrants will reset on October 1, 2025, the start of the federal government’s next fiscal year. Starting on that date, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may resume approving applications for permanent residency with a current priority date in the EB-2 category, and embassies and consulates may resume issuing immigrant visas in the EB-2 category.

Next Steps

Although EB-2 adjustment of status filings will not be approved until the beginning of the new fiscal year, eligible applicants may continue filing EB-2 adjustment of status applications with USCIS, provided their priority date is current under the final action dates chart of the Visa Bulletin.

Applicants can expect USCIS to begin issuing new EB-2 green cards starting on October 1, 2025.

Ogletree Deakins’ Immigration Practice Group will continue to monitor developments and will publish updates on the Immigration blog as additional information becomes available.

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