USCIS February 2026 I-485 Inventory: India EB-2 Backlog Shrank, and Why 2015 Priority Dates Are Not in It Yet

On June 4, 2026, USCIS published its employment-based I-485 pending inventory as of February 3, 2026. This is the report that shows how many adjustment-of-status applications are sitting in the USCIS queue, broken down by country, preference category, and priority date. Here is what changed, with a focus on India EB-2, plus one thing about the report that surprises almost everyone.

Source: USCIS "Pending Applications for Employment-Based Preference Categories as of February 3, 2026" and the prior January 2, 2026 snapshot, from the USCIS Immigration and Citizenship Data page, plus the June 2026 visa bulletin for India EB-2 dates. Figures cover EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3. Not legal advice.

India EB-2: the backlog shrank

The number most people in this community watch: pending India EB-2 I-485 applications fell to 26,984, down 717 from the January snapshot of 27,701. The decline was not spread evenly across priority dates. It was almost entirely at the front of the line.

In plain terms, USCIS worked through 2013 priority dates faster than any other cohort this month, while the large 2014 group barely moved.

Why a 2015 priority date is not even in the report

Here is the part that surprises people. The India EB-2 and EB-3 report only breaks out priority dates from 2005 through 2014. There is no 2015 line at all. The reason is the filing date. In the June 2026 visa bulletin, India EB-2 Dates for Filing is January 15, 2015. If your priority date falls after that, you cannot file your I-485 yet, so your case is not in this pending inventory.

So if your priority date is, say, May 2015, the honest read is not that you are behind 27,000 people in this report. You are not in the report yet at all. The queue that matters for you right now is the roughly 16,900 cases with 2014 priority dates sitting just ahead of the filing cutoff. That 2014 wall is what has to clear before the filing date reaches 2015.

Approvable now versus waiting in line

The report also splits each case by visa status. Of the 26,984 India EB-2 cases, roughly 3,300 are listed as available, meaning a visa number is available and the case can be approved. These are the older priority dates, the ones before the current September 2013 final action date. The other roughly 23,650 are awaiting availability, meaning the I-485 is on file but the priority date is not current for final approval yet. That second group is the bulk of the queue, and it clears as the final action date advances.

Every country and category: where each cohort is stuck

India EB-2 is one cell in a larger grid. Here is the whole employment-based picture as of February, by country and preference, with the priority date years where the bulk of each backlog actually sits.

The priority-date depth of each backlog is basically a map of how oversubscribed the country is. India sits deepest, with EB-2 and EB-3 stuck in 2013 and 2014. China is an era ahead, around 2020 and 2021. Rest of world is at the recent edge, 2023 through 2025, which is another way of saying those categories are close to current. EB-1 is more recent than EB-2 and EB-3 everywhere, because it moves faster. Notice the direction too: the oversubscribed countries, India and China, saw their EB-2 and EB-3 inventory fall this month, while rest of world, where demand is still building, saw it rise. Across all countries and these three preferences, the total came to 172,670, up about 1 percent.

How to read the year tables below: they are the current February snapshot. USCIS folds the oldest priority date year into a prior-years bucket as the window moves forward, so comparing a single year across two monthly snapshots can show swings that are really just that window shift. So we give the month-over-month change as a total and break the snapshot out by year.

India, the other two categories

EB-2 is covered above. India EB-1, which retrogressed sharply over the past year, has its backlog bunched in 2022 and 2023. India EB-3 mirrors EB-2, stuck in 2013 and 2014, and was nearly flat on the month.

India EB-1 (February, 22,335)

India EB-3 (February, 17,036)

China, an era ahead of India

China EB-2 and EB-3 sit in 2020 and 2021, and both edged down this month. China EB-1 sits in 2022 and 2023 and rose, much like India EB-1.

China EB-1 (February, 4,717)

China EB-2 (February, 6,164)

China EB-3 (February, 5,569)

Rest of world, the current edge

Rest of world is a different animal. Its inventory is not an old backlog but recent filings moving through near-current dates: EB-1 in 2024 and 2025, with the first 2026 cases already appearing, EB-2 in 2023 and 2024, and EB-3 spread across 2021 to 2023. This is also where the queue grew. Rest of world EB-2 added about 1,000 cases, which is what pushed the worldwide total up even as India and China came down.

Rest of world EB-1 (February, 32,446)

Rest of world EB-2 (February, 34,129)

Rest of world EB-3 (February, 14,748)

What this does and does not tell you

Pending inventory is a stock, not a wait time. It tells you how many cases are in front of you, not when you will be approved. Visa number availability, published monthly in the State Department visa bulletin, is what ultimately controls approvals, and it has to be read alongside the annual per-country limits. A shrinking inventory at your priority-date year is a healthy sign, but it is one input, not the whole answer. You can see how these figures feed your own estimate on our Priority Date Estimator, and track category movement in the visa bulletin viewer.

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This article is informational only and is not legal advice. Figures are from USCIS public data as of the February 3, 2026 snapshot and the June 2026 visa bulletin, and may change as USCIS posts new releases. For guidance about your own case, consult a licensed immigration attorney.