Indian Workers Lead US Employment-Based Green Card Filings as Backlog Tops Two Lakh

India-born workers filed nearly one in three employment-based green card petitions with the United States in the third quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, while total pending cases crossed the two lakh mark. Official data from USCIS shows that India received 37 percent of all employment-based green card approvals during the April to June period.

Filing Numbers

Out of 62,932 Form I-140 petitions received by USCIS in the quarter, 19,549 were for Indian-born beneficiaries. Indian applicants secured 13,923 approvals out of 37,975 total approvals handed out. These figures from India alone exceeded the totals of the next eight countries combined, which included China, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Nepal, and Pakistan at 13,711 approvals together.

Category Breakdown

The lead for Indian applicants is sharpest among professionals with advanced degrees in the EB-2 category. India filed nearly 69 percent of petitions in this group and took roughly seven out of every ten approvals. On the state level, California led in total receipts while Texas led in approvals.

Context

Form I-140 is the foundational petition filed with US authorities for an employment-based immigrant visa, acting as the first major step toward permanent residency. The growing backlog of pending cases highlights the long wait times Indian professionals regularly face within the US immigration system.