Now Reading: October visa bulletin disappoints Indian EB-2 applicants stuck at 2013
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October visa bulletin disappoints Indian EB-2 applicants stuck at 2013
October visa bulletin disappoints Indian EB-2 applicants stuck at 2013
The Story in Brief
The US State Department has released the October 2026 Visa Bulletin, reopening India’s EB-2 and unreserved EB-5 categories after they were closed in September. However, the EB-2 final action date for India remains at 1 November 2013, meaning applicants with priority dates from 2014 onward still cannot proceed. The EB-1 cutoff for India advanced to 1 February 2023. The bulletin was released unusually late, giving applicants fewer than two days to submit petitions to USCIS. Immigration attorney Rahul Reddy called it ‘the most disappointing October visa bulletin’, noting that the department may need until November to calculate spillover numbers from the previous year. Former USCIS official Ricky Murray said the late release made the deadline ‘impractical and largely unachievable’. The EB-2 category for all other countries retrogressed from current to 1 January 2025, a move the department said was necessary to stay within FY2027 limits.
Update, 30 September 2026: Sources now report that the October 2026 Visa Bulletin has been released, reopening India’s EB-2 and unreserved EB-5 categories. The EB-2 final action date remains at 1 November 2013. Experts quoted in Times of India and Times Now called the late release ‘disappointing’ and the deadline ‘impractical’. Hindustan Times and m9.news also cover the bulletin, with m9.news focusing on the frustration of Indian applicants.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The coverage of the October 2026 Visa Bulletin is uniform in its facts but differs sharply in tone. Times of India and Times Now lead with the bulletin’s mixed outcome, attributing the ‘most disappointing’ and ‘impractical’ characterisations to named experts. Hindustan Times frames the reopening of EB-2 and EB-5 for India as the lead news, calling it ‘exciting’ and ‘mixed’, and places the retrogression of the Rest of World category later. m9.news takes a sensationalist approach, focusing entirely on the frustration and despair of Indian applicants, with no mention of the EB-1 or EB-5 gains. The Times of India’s earlier story on the USCIS status glitch is a separate issue, not directly about the bulletin.
Coverage: 6 sources, 1 government-critical, 4 neutral, 1 sensationalist
Sources (6): timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report), greatandhra.com (neutral report), hindustantimes.com (neutral report), timesnownews.com (neutral report), timesofindia.indiatimes.com (2) (government critical), m9.news (sensationalist)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 6 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.
