USCIS February 2026 Employment-Based Inventory Highlights Severe Country-Specific Backlogs
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has released its February 2026 Employment-Based (EB) Inventory report. This report provides a detailed snapshot of pending adjustment of status applications across employment-based preference categories. The inventory data is broken down by country of chargeability and estimated priority date. It also serves as a critical indicator of visa demand relative to statutory annual limits.
The latest report underscores three major pressure points in the employment-based system. These are uniquely deep India EB2 and EB3 backlogs extending more than a decade, a sharp surge and subsequent retrogression in India EB1 filings centered around late 2022 and all of 2023, and continuing delays for pre-2017 China EB5 unreserved investors who remain in “awaiting availability” status.
India EB2 and EB3: Priority Dates Extend Back to 2005–2014
The February 2026 inventory confirms that India remains the only country with pending EB2 and EB3 adjustment cases dating back to 2005 through 2014 reflected in a separate worksheet. This extended range exists because India’s demand far exceeds the typical 10-year reporting window used for other countries.
In the EB2 category, thousands of India cases from 2013 and 2014 remain in “awaiting availability” status. October 2014 alone reflects 2,173 cases awaiting visa numbers. There are also significant volumes across surrounding months. Current EB2 final action cutoffs for India are advancing only gradually and, at best, are reaching mid-2013 priority dates. The presence of substantial pending inventory beyond that point indicates continued forward pressure on the Visa Bulletin. This also indicates limited near-term movement unless visa supply increases or demand patterns shift.
In EB3, India continues to experience similar structural backlog patterns. Older priority dates comprise a large share of pending inventory. The persistence of 2005–2014 filings in the system reflects the cumulative effect of per-country numerical limits and sustained demand over many years.
India EB1: December 2022 Concentration and 2023 Retrogression Impact
The February 2026 data also highlights significant developments in the India EB1 category. December 2022 alone accounts for 2,842 cases in “available” status, representing the single largest month-category combination in the entire report.
More notably, every month from February through July 2023 in India EB1 appears in “awaiting availability” status. Monthly case counts range from several hundred to nearly 1,500. This indicates that visa numbers are no longer immediately available for those priority dates. It also confirms the real-world impact of the retrogression that occurred after heightened demand in late 2022.
The concentration in December 2022 suggests a surge in filings during a period when EB1 India became current or more favorable in the Visa Bulletin. As available visa numbers were subsequently exhausted or demand outpaced supply, priority dates retrogressed. This placed later-filed 2023 cases into a waiting queue for immigrant visa availability.
China EB5 Unreserved: Pre-2017 Cases Still Awaiting Availability
In the EB5 Immigrant Investor category, the report shows continued delays for China in the unreserved visa pool. Multiple tranches of pre-2017 cases, classified under “prior years,” remain in “awaiting availability” status.
The data reflects more than 1,000 cases from September and more than 500 from December. There are also additional hundreds from other months in the pre-2017 period still pending visa numbers. These figures demonstrate that some Chinese EB5 investors who filed immigrant petitions nearly a decade ago are continuing to wait for immigrant visa availability under the unreserved category.
Given the per-country cap and historical oversubscription in EB5 China, the inventory confirms that older demand remains in the pipeline. It continues to compete for limited annual visa numbers.
Why the February 2026 Inventory Matters
The USCIS employment-based inventory is a key operational indicator of future Visa Bulletin movement and case processing trends. While the Department of State ultimately controls immigrant visa allocation and publishes monthly cutoffs, the USCIS inventory provides insight into how many adjustment applications are pending within specific priority date ranges and preference categories.
For Indian professionals in EB2 and EB3, the report reinforces the long-term nature of backlogs and the limited pace of advancement under current statutory caps. EB1 India applicants, especially those who filed in 2023, the data confirms that retrogression has translated into concrete visa number constraints.
For Chinese EB5 investors in the unreserved pool, the continued presence of pre-2017 cases in “awaiting availability” status illustrates the cumulative demand that remains to be cleared before more recent cases may advance.
Employers, foreign nationals, and investors monitoring employment-based pathways should view the February 2026 inventory as a structural demand snapshot rather than a short-term processing update. The underlying numerical limits, per-country caps, and preference allocations remain central to understanding why certain countries and categories continue to experience extended waiting periods.
