US visa April 2025 bulletin: Interview wait time for Indians to go up | Here’s why

Why US Visa April 2025 Bulletin is causing longer interview wait times | Explained

India’s EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories were advanced. EB-4 visas are currently unavailable for all countries until October 1, 2025.

The April 2025 Visa Bulletin shows significant retrogression in certain employment-based visa categories, particularly for India and China in the EB-5 Unreserved category. This means that applicants will face longer wait times, which can indirectly lead to an increased demand for interview slots.

Family-sponsored categories

A retrogression in family-sponsored categories is also set to contribute to longer processing times and potential increases in interview demand.

The visa bulletin mentions two important dates:

Final Action Dates: When your Green Card can be approved.

Dates for Filing: When you can submit your final application paperwork.

USCIS decides which date to use for employment-based green cards, and for April 2025, they are using the final action dates.

Family-based Green Cards (India):

Waiting Longer: Most family-based categories in India are seeing their wait times get longer.

Examples:

If you’re an unmarried adult child of a US citizen (F1), the approval date has moved back, meaning you’ll wait longer.

If you are a sibling of a US citizen, that category also moved backward, meaning longer wait times.

Even though some ‘Dates for filing’ moved forward, the final action dates are what matter for application approval.

FLAG deleting H-1B records

The Foreign Labor Access Gateway (FLAG) began deleting older case records starting March 20, 2025. This means if a case was finalized on March 22, 2020, it will be deleted on March 22, 2025.