EB-5 India's Unreserved Numbers Are Gone. The Reserved Set-Asides Are Not. Here's What That Distinction Actually Means.

The 'U' only applies to part of the EB-5 supply

The August 2026 Visa Bulletin marked EB-5 India unreserved as Unavailable — the same designation sitting next to EB-2 India, signaling that the annual allocation of unreserved visa numbers for India in that category has been exhausted. If you've been tracking Indian employment-based categories all year, the trajectory was clear: EB-2 India went Unavailable in May, and the EB-5 India unreserved warning followed through the summer.

What the 'U' does not cover is the reserved set-aside categories created by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022. The RIA carved out three separate allocations from the annual 10,000 EB-5 visa supply: rural projects, infrastructure projects, and targeted employment area projects in high-unemployment zones. Each set-aside has its own pool of visa numbers tracked independently from the unreserved general supply. As of the August 2026 bulletin, those reserved categories remain open for India.

The practical implication: an India-born investor who files an I-526E petition tied to a qualifying rural, infrastructure, or high-unemployment TEA project is drawing from a separate allocation — not the depleted unreserved pool. The category marked 'U' is specifically EB-5 unreserved. The reserved allocations are still live.

What the 2022 Reform Act actually built into the program

The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 was the most significant statutory overhaul of the EB-5 program since Congress first created it in 1990. Passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, it did two things relevant here. It permanently reauthorized the Regional Center program, ending the years of short-term extensions that had left the program in recurring administrative limbo. And it created the reserved set-asides that are now relevant to India-born investors in a way they weren't before.

The set-aside math: 20 percent of the 10,000 annual EB-5 visas are reserved for rural projects — meaning projects located outside a metropolitan statistical area and not in a high-unemployment area. Ten percent are reserved for projects in high-unemployment targeted employment areas. Another 10 percent are reserved for infrastructure projects — a narrow category covering transportation, communications, water, energy, and similar government-supported infrastructure. That totals 4,000 visas per year — 40 percent of the annual EB-5 supply — designated for these three categories and tracked in separate allocations from the remaining 6,000 unreserved visas.

Reserved set-aside visas that go unused in a given fiscal year are reallocated before October 1 rather than carried over. But the mechanism that has protected them from India's per-country cap pressure is real: the reserved set-aside allocations for FY2026 have not been exhausted by India-born investor demand. The rural and other set-aside categories represent a narrower and less competitively subscribed pool than the general unreserved category, and that's why they remain open now.

Why the unreserved category ran dry — same logic as EB-2 and EB-3

The per-country cap for EB-5 works the same way it does for employment-based preference categories. India is limited to approximately 7 percent of the annual allocation in any employment-based category — roughly 700 visa numbers per year from the unreserved EB-5 supply. With significant investor demand from India, that allocation absorbs quickly. The same structural constraint driving EB-2 India and EB-3 India dates down applies in EB-5: high demand, fixed per-country annual supply, and a fiscal year that resets each October 1.

In FY2026, demand outpaced supply faster than in prior years. The unreserved EB-5 India allocation was consumed before September 30, pushing the category to 'U.' This is not a sign the EB-5 program has failed or that India-born investors are permanently excluded. It reflects a fiscal-year-specific cap exhaustion — one that resets on October 1 along with all other employment-based categories.

The reserved set-aside categories have not hit the same cap pressure. Partly because rural and infrastructure projects represent a smaller share of the total EB-5 market. Partly because India-born investor demand has historically been concentrated in the unreserved general category. Whatever the specific reason, the August 2026 bulletin shows these categories are still open for India.

Investment amounts and what qualifies for each set-aside

EB-5 requires a minimum investment in a new commercial enterprise that creates at least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers. The minimum amounts under the RIA: $1,050,000 for a non-TEA investment and $800,000 for a targeted employment area — either a rural area or a high-unemployment area. The rural set-aside and the high-unemployment TEA set-aside both qualify for the $800,000 investment level. This is the investment floor that applies to the set-aside categories where India's path is currently open.

For the infrastructure set-aside, the investment goes through a Regional Center into an infrastructure project as the RIA defines it: transportation, communications, water supply, energy, or similar government-supported infrastructure. This is not a catchall for anything that builds something physical. Investors considering this category need to verify that the specific regional center project qualifies under the statutory definition — not all projects that look like infrastructure meet the RIA's criteria for the infrastructure set-aside.

Rural projects require a geographic location outside a metropolitan statistical area. A regional center project in a mid-sized city, even in a high-poverty zone, does not qualify as rural. The geographic constraint limits rural EB-5 to specific parts of the country. But these projects exist and have been operational since the RIA took effect. Investors interested in the rural set-aside should ask any regional center they're evaluating to provide documentation of the project's rural TEA designation.

What this means for India-born investors right now

The reserved categories being open does not make EB-5 the right path for every India-born immigrant. EB-5 requires substantial capital, involves real investment risk — these are equity investments in a business project, not guaranteed returns — and sits in an entirely different immigration track from the employment-based preference system. Someone who has been waiting in the EB-2 India queue for a decade with an approved I-140 and a priority date that may eventually become current is in a very different position from someone evaluating immigration pathways from scratch.

For an investor who would be deploying significant capital independent of immigration considerations — someone already evaluating U.S. real estate development, infrastructure, or qualifying business ventures — the EB-5 path through reserved set-asides is currently active for India. An I-526E filed under a rural, infrastructure, or high-unemployment TEA regional center project in August 2026 draws from an allocation that is not exhausted. That option exists right now; whether it fits depends on the investor's circumstances, not just the bulletin.

A common question: can someone in the EB-2 or EB-3 queue add an EB-5 track simultaneously? Yes, in theory. Pursuing an EB-5 petition does not affect an existing employment-based I-140 or a pending I-485 — the two tracks run independently. But parallel tracks multiply complexity and cost. The decision to add EB-5 alongside an existing employment-based case depends on individual timelines, investment resources, and risk tolerance, not on visa number availability alone.

Project availability is the variable most people skip

The reserved set-aside allocations being open in the visa bulletin is a necessary but not sufficient condition for filing. You also need a qualifying project with available capacity under that set-aside. Regional centers that run reserved-category projects track how many investors have filed I-526E petitions under their specific set-aside allocation. Popular projects can have their reserved capacity fully committed even before the bulletin category shows 'U.' A regional center can tell you whether their project's reserved allocation still has room.

The process for verifying a project's reserved set-aside status is not standardized by USCIS. You rely on representations from the regional center and their counsel, confirmed through the project's offering documents and subscription materials. This is one reason why due diligence on EB-5 investments is more involved than simply identifying that a category is open in the bulletin. The bulletin tells you numbers are available in the pool. It does not tell you whether the specific project you're evaluating has remaining capacity in that pool.

September 30 and what to watch for FY2027

On October 1, 2026, the annual EB-5 visa supply resets. The unreserved India allocation gets a new approximately 700-number supply for FY2027. The reserved set-asides also reset — the 4,000-number total refreshes across all countries and all three set-aside types. Whether India-born investor demand exhausts the unreserved EB-5 again in FY2027 as quickly as it did in FY2026, and whether demand for reserved set-asides grows enough to create pressure in those categories, depends on market conditions and the pace of new I-526E filings in the coming year.

The July 2026 EB-5 NPRM from USCIS — which proposed changes to bridge financing arrangements, RIA interpretations, and program administration — remains at the proposed rule stage. The comment period has closed, but the final rule has not been published. Until it is, the RIA as enacted and existing regulations govern how reserved set-asides work. If the final rule changes the set-aside mechanics, that change would be prospective and apply to petitions filed after the final rule's effective date.

Watch travel.state.gov around August 12 for the September 2026 bulletin — the last bulletin of FY2026. It will show whether reserved categories hold through September 30 or begin to come under pressure. The October 2026 bulletin, published in mid-September, will be the first read on India's EB-5 situation under FY2027 numbers. This article is informational only and does not constitute legal advice. EB-5 investment and immigration decisions depend on specific financial circumstances, investment objectives, and immigration facts that vary significantly by individual. Consult a licensed immigration attorney and a qualified financial advisor before making any investment or immigration decisions.