On September 8, 2025, the U.S. Department of State announced that all immigrant visas in the Employment-Based First Preference (EB-1) category for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 have been issued. As a result, U.S. embassies and consulates cannot issue additional immigrant visas in the EB-1 category until the start of FY 2026 on October 1, 2025. This follows a similar announcement by the State Department regarding immigrant visas in the EB-2 category last week.
At the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, 2025, new visa numbers will become available, and processing will resume for qualified applicants – including those in the EB-1 category. The Department of State is expected to publish the Visa Bulletin for October 2025 in mid-September.
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) establishes annual limits on the number of employment-based preference immigrant visas that may be issued within a fiscal year. The annual limit for EB-1 visas is 28.6% of the worldwide employment limit, plus any numbers not used in the EB-4 (special immigrant) and EB-5 (investor) categories. Once that allocation is reached, no additional EB-1 visas may be issued until the next fiscal year.
This exhaustion of visa numbers has immediate consequences for applicants. For those pursuing consular processing, EB-1 visa issuance is paused worldwide until October 1, 2025. Applicants in the United States pursuing adjustment of status may continue to file and advance their cases if eligible, but final approvals will be held until new visa numbers become available. The adjudicating of underlying EB-1 I-140 petitions by USCIS is not impacted by this announcement.
While EB-1 visa issuance will begin again on October 1, 2025, applicants should plan accordingly and consult with immigration counsel.
The material contained in this alert does not constitute direct legal advice and is for informational purposes only. An attorney-client relationship is not presumed or intended by receipt or review of this presentation. The information provided should never replace informed counsel when specific immigration-related guidance is needed.
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