Thousands of Indian nationals holding EB-2 and EB-3 Green Card petitions woke up to a baffling status update: their cases now "require USCIS to send a notice." Many of these applicants, with priority dates stretching back to 2014 and 2015, have waited years for final action. The sudden, uniform change triggered immediate panic, with social media quickly filling with speculation about mass rejections or fraud flags.
Immigration attorney Rahul Reddy dismissed the chaos as a "system glitch," pointing out that USCIS acts on specific case deficiencies, not across thousands of files simultaneously. "Many of these applicants have final action dates that are not even current, which means USCIS cannot approve or deny their cases on the merits right now," Reddy said. He urged applicants to ignore the online message, keep their contact information current, and refrain from filing new documents in response to the digital alert alone.
The real bottleneck, however, lies in the Department of State’s failure to release the October 2026 visa bulletin. Legal consultant Bhumireddy Sai Srinivas Reddy argues the delay stems from the legal limbo surrounding the 75-country visa pause. On August 21, Judge Vargas ruled the freeze illegal, ordering the State Department to reconsider over 43,000 denied applications. The government has appealed this order, seeking a pause until September 25.
The State Department cannot finalize cutoff dates until it knows the fate of those 43,000 cases. If the appeals court pauses the judge's order, visa numbers stay tight and priority dates crawl. If the court rejects the pause, a flood of cases hits adjudication, potentially causing priority dates to jump. Until that legal dust settles, the October bulletin remains in limbo.
Reddy advised applicants to monitor their mail carefully. If a physical notice arrives, it is likely routine, but any request for documents or response deadlines must be handled by an attorney immediately. "Deadlines on USCIS notices are strict, and a missed deadline can cause real problems even when the underlying case is strong," he warned. The next critical date is September 25, when the government’s deadline to seek a stay on the visa freeze ruling expires.