Is the Green Card Backlog About to Be Fixed? The EAGLE Act Is Still Stalled in 2026

The EAGLE Act promises to end per-country green card caps, but as of September 2026 it remains stuck in Congress with no floor vote in sight.

If you are an EB-2 or EB-3 applicant born in India or China, you have probably seen headlines about the EAGLE Act promising to fix the per-country green card backlog and wondered if your wait is about to get shorter. As of September 12, 2026, it is not. The bill has not passed either chamber of Congress, there is no evidence of committee action or a floor vote since May 2026, and the per-country caps that drive years-long backlogs for applicants from high-demand countries are still fully in effect today.

This is not a story about a rule that changed. It is a story about a rule that has not changed, despite years of attempts, and what that means for how you should plan your own case.

What is actually true right now, in one place

• In effect today (2026-09-12): The 7% per-country cap on employment-based green cards, set by section 202 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. It has not been amended, suspended, or waived.
• In effect today (2026-09-12): The 7% per-country cap on family-sponsored green cards.
• Proposed, not enacted: The EAGLE Act, which would phase out the employment-based per-country cap entirely by 2032 and raise the family-sponsored cap to 15%.
• Proposed, not enacted: A companion Senate effort, introduced by Sens. Hickenlooper and Cramer, to separately phase out per-country caps on employment-based visas.
• Not found in the record: Any floor vote, House or Senate committee markup, or scheduled hearing on either proposal between May 2026 and September 2026.

If a headline, a LinkedIn post, or a forwarded message tells you the backlog has been fixed, that claim is ahead of the facts as they stand today. Bookmark Congress.gov and check the bill's own status page rather than relying on secondhand summaries, since bill text and status can change without much advance notice.

What the EAGLE Act would actually do, if it became law

The EAGLE Act is built around the idea that the per-country cap system, not the total number of green cards issued each year, is the main reason applicants from a small number of high-population countries face waits measured in years or decades while applicants from most other countries do not. The bill's core provisions:

1. Phase out the 7% per-country cap on employment-based green cards by 2032. Instead of no single country receiving more than 7% of employment-based green cards in a given category and year, the cap would be gradually lifted over a multi-year transition period, ending in 2032, per a summary of the bill's provisions.
2. Raise the family-sponsored per-country cap from 7% to 15%. This does not eliminate the family-based cap the way the employment-based provision would; it roughly doubles the ceiling instead.
3. Allow early filing of adjustment of status after a two-year wait. Applicants who have waited two or more years for a visa number to become available could file Form I-485 before a number is actually available, rather than waiting for their priority date to become current on the Visa Bulletin first.

That third provision matters as much as the cap changes themselves, because it is what would let backlogged applicants get an Employment Authorization Document, advance parole, and job portability under AC21 years earlier than the current system allows, even before their green card itself is approved. None of these three provisions is currently in force.

Old rule vs. proposed rule vs. status today

Every row in that table describes a rule that has not changed. If you take one thing from this post, take the middle column with a grain of salt and the right column as the operative fact.

Why this keeps stalling

Per-country cap reform is not a new idea. Versions of this proposal have circulated in Congress across multiple sessions, and the basic dynamic has repeated each time: strong support from applicants and employers concentrated in a handful of high-backlog countries, and resistance rooted in concerns about how quickly the total mix of green card recipients by country would shift if caps disappeared. That tension, not a lack of awareness of the backlog, is the reason bills like this tend to be introduced, debated, and then stall without a vote.

Nothing in the available record suggests that dynamic has resolved in 2026. The absence of committee action or a floor vote since May 2026 is consistent with the pattern this proposal has followed in the past, not a sign that a vote is close.

What this means if you are backlogged in EB-2 or EB-3

If you are an India-born or China-born applicant tracking your priority date, per-country cap reform staying stalled means the mechanics driving your wait have not changed. The long road from F-1 status to a green card still runs through the same per-country math it has for years. If you are still getting oriented on how EB-2 fits into that process, EB-2 visa and green card basics is a good starting point before you plan around a bill that has not passed. And if your priority date has been sitting unavailable, the mechanics behind that are covered in why EB-2 India retrogressed and went unavailable in August 2026.

Note: the October 2026 Visa Bulletin had not been published at the time this post was researched, so treat any specific October cutoff date you see circulating online as a third-party prediction, not an official figure. Check the Visa Bulletin directly when it is released.

None of this is a reason to make a filing decision based on hoped-for legislation. If you are weighing whether to keep your priority date where it is versus exploring an EB-3 downgrade, or whether AC21 portability changes your options if you are considering a job move while an I-140 is pending, those are decisions to make with a licensed immigration attorney based on the rules in force today, not on a bill's possible future.

Common mistakes

• Assuming reintroduction means progress. A bill being reintroduced in a new Congress, or covered again in the press, is not the same as committee action or a floor vote. Check the bill's actual status page rather than the fact that it exists.
• Confusing the EAGLE Act with unrelated H-1B or OPT rule changes. Per-country green card cap reform is a separate track from H-1B fee rules, OPT unemployment limits, or F-1 grace period changes. Don't let a headline about "immigration reform" blur which specific rule is being discussed.
• Delaying a decision your attorney recommends today because relief might be coming. With no enacted change and no scheduled vote, waiting on the EAGLE Act is not a strategy, it is a gap in your plan.
• Treating the House bill and the Senate companion effort as identical. They target overlapping but not identical caps; neither has passed, and their eventual scope could differ if either ever moves.
• Sharing or acting on a specific "backlog cleared" date you saw online. No effective date exists because no version of this reform has been signed into law as of September 12, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What is the EAGLE Act and what would it actually change

The EAGLE Act would phase out the 7% per-country cap on employment-based green cards by 2032 and raise the family-sponsored per-country cap from 7% to 15%. It would also let people who have waited two or more years for a visa number file for adjustment of status before a number is actually available. None of this is current law yet.

Has the EAGLE Act passed Congress as of September 2026

No. As of September 12, 2026, the most recent reporting available shows no floor votes or committee action on the bill between May 2026 and September 2026. The safest characterization is that per-country cap reform remains stalled, with no passage in either chamber.

Is there a separate Senate bill on this topic

Yes. A companion Senate effort has separately proposed phasing out per-country caps specifically on employment-based visas. Like the House EAGLE Act, it has not passed as of this writing, and the two proposals are not identical in scope.

Will the green card backlog be fixed soon

There is no evidence pointing to that. Per-country cap reform has been introduced in multiple Congresses without becoming law, and nothing in the current legislative record suggests a vote is imminent. Treat any claim that the backlog is about to be fixed as speculation until a bill actually clears both chambers and is signed.

What should I do while I wait to see if per-country caps change

Keep managing the case you actually have today. Track your priority date against the Visa Bulletin each month, keep your I-140 and underlying petition documentation current, and talk to a licensed immigration attorney about options like EB-3 downgrade or portability rather than waiting on legislation that may not move for years.

Where to check for updates

This is the kind of bill that can sit still for months and then move quickly, or not move again for years. Check the bill's page on Congress.gov for its official status, watch for a committee markup notice if one is scheduled, and confirm anything you read here against your own attorney's read of the current text before you rely on it for a filing decision.

Managing a green card timeline you don't control is exhausting on its own, on top of a job search that has its own deadlines. If you want help getting the job-search side of your visa timeline right while the legislative side sits still, talk to F1Jobs.