The EB-2 India backlog is not just a "long line"—it is a structural mathematical bottleneck that has created a wait time spanning decades for new applicants.
The Root Cause: 7% Cap
- •Total Annual Visas: ~140,000
- •Per-Country Limit: 7% (approx. 9,800 total)
- •India Demand: 100,000+ new applicants per year
- •Result: A massive bottleneck where demand vastly exceeds supply.
The Demand Mismatch
India is the primary source of high-skilled IT, engineering, and medical talent for the U.S. economy. Thousands of Indian nationals enter the U.S. on H-1B visas every year and eventually apply for Green Cards.
High Inflow
Tens of thousands of newly approved I-140 petitions enter the queue every year.
Fixed Supply
The "quota" for India remains fixed at 7% unless there are unused visas from other countries.
The Backlog Grows
Since inflow > outflow, the line gets longer every single year. The Priority Date moves slower than real time.
The "Spillover" Lifeline
The only reason the queue moves at all is Horizontal Spillover. If the Rest of the World (ROW) does not use all their allocated visas, the leftovers "spill over" to the backlogged countries (India and China).
No More COVID Bonus
Legislative Outlook
Various bills (like the EAGLE Act or S.386) have proposed eliminating the per-country cap. While these have passed in the House or Senate at different times, none have been signed into law. Until legislation changes, the structural imbalance remains.