Indians figure as the largest community awaiting US green cards

According to data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), more than 800,000 Indians are awaiting work-related green cards in the United States.

Any reform from next President Joe Biden could be a long drawn process, with wait-time estimates running to 84 years.
Any reform from next President Joe Biden could be a long drawn process, with wait-time estimates running to 84 years. Photo: Connected to India

Indians comprise the biggest demographic at 68 per cent of the 1.2 million applicants in queue, awaiting employment-based green cards in 2020, The Economic Times reported.

In fact this backlog of 1.2 million cases is the highest ever and CATO Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity has estimated that sponsored Indian applicants may face an eight-decade delay - theoretically, 200,000 will die before reaching their turn, the report noted.

The next biggest demographic is Chinese nationals who comprise 14 per cent of the applicant pool and the remaining 18 per cent are from the rest of the world.

Employment green cards are issued under the Permanent Employment Program (PERM) for employers to hold high-skilled workers by facilitating their residency in the country. A 7 percent or 140,000 individuals cap is in place, annually.

The backlog, as per the CATO paper, is due to this cap and not processing delays.

Notably, 121,609 green cards have been carried forward to 2021 under EB-2 and EB-3 categories as President Donald Trump's anti-immigration drive left them unused.

Any reform from next President Joe Biden could be a long drawn process, with wait-time estimates running to 84 years.

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CtoI News Desk
CtoI News Desk – CtoI

Singapore-headquartered online media company targeting Indian Diaspora across Singapore, US, UK, UAE and India. Connected to India covers developments around NRIs. Covers arts, political, sports, finance, entrepreneurship, business, movies, dramas, entertainment and other news for Indians living worldwide.

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