U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has released the August 2025 visa bulletin, offering key updates for individuals awaiting permanent residency — or green cards — in the United States.
Why It Matters
This bulletin outlines when applicants can advance to the next step in the green card process, based on their visa category and country of origin. It’s especially critical as the U.S. faces a growing immigration backlog, with more than 11.3 million pending applications.
Green card applicants rely on the monthly bulletin to track when they can adjust their status — which hinges on a priority date established when a petition was originally filed by a family member or employer. The bulletin also shows when a visa is actually available for final processing and approval.
What’s in the August 2025 Bulletin
The bulletin, issued by the State Department, sets priority dates for both family-sponsored and employment-based green card applicants.
- Family-sponsored green cards are capped at 226,000 visas annually.
- Employment-based green cards are limited to 140,000 visas each fiscal year.
- Per-country limits restrict any single nation to no more than 7% of the total — about 25,620 visas per year.
Some U.S. territories are capped at 2% (7,320 visas), placing additional strain on wait times for high-demand countries like India and China.
Key Updates by Category
- Employment-Based Second Preference (EB-2) for India: Moved forward by about one month — a modest but significant shift for applicants waiting years.
- EB-3 (Skilled Workers/Professionals): No movement for Indian applicants, reflecting ongoing delays in processing.
- Family-Based Visas: Slight progress in some categories, with queues inching forward by roughly a month.
Chinese applicants are experiencing similar stagnation in employment-based categories, while some family-based visa timelines show small improvements.
What It Means for Applicants
To proceed with a green card application in August, your priority date must be earlier than the date listed in the bulletin for your category and country. Two sections guide the process:
- Dates for Filing: Earliest an applicant can submit forms.
- Final Action Dates: When a visa number is available, and your application can be approved.
Both are crucial benchmarks in the complex and often slow-moving U.S. immigration process.
The Bigger Picture
According to Doug Rand, a former senior USCIS official during the Biden administration, the bottleneck is twofold:
“There are administrative backlogs — cases ready to process — and statutory backlogs, caused by outdated caps set by Congress back in 1990,” he told Newsweek. “Only legislative action can fix that.”
As India continues to dominate green card demand — particularly in tech and health sectors — experts say the backlog is likely to persist unless the immigration quota system is reformed.
Looking Ahead
The green card delays come at a time of rising political tension over immigration and as ICE enforcement ramps up. Advocates urge applicants to regularly monitor the monthly visa bulletin and ensure all documentation is in order to act swiftly once eligible.
For now, even small shifts in the bulletin represent a sliver of hope in an otherwise clogged system.
