More than 400,000 Indians waiting for Green Card won't get it before death: Study

A new study has revealed that about 400,000 Indians who are in queue for an employment-based Green Card may not even get it before their death. They are among more than 1 million Indians who are waiting for the Green Card, officially known as Permanent Resident Card. It is a much sought-after legal document of permanent residency in the US. It grants the bearer the privilege of residing in the US permanently.

The employment-based Green Card backlog has reached a new record of 1.8 million cases, as per a study by David J Bier of the Cato Institute. It is an American libertarian think tank.

Out of 1.8 million cases, 1.1 million are from India. This is about 63 per cent. There is a pendency of 250,000 cases from Chinese applicants (14 per cent).

There a limit to number of applicants considered from Green Card from each country. It is called the country cap. No country receives more than 7 per cent of the green cards.

The study said that new applicants from India are likely to face a lifetime of wait and more than 400,000 will pass away before they get it.

The process starts when an employer files a petition for a worker. If no Green Card is available under the caps, the petition is wait-listed until a spot opens. Finally, a worker may file to adjust their status to permanent residence (the green card application) when a green card cap spot is available to them.

A similar staged process is there for investors and employment-based "special immigrants" that include Afghan interpreters as well.

The study said that in March 2023, a total of 80,324 employment-based petitions were pending. These represented about 171,635 people with spouses and minor children of the workers. Another 1.3 million were in the waitlist. There were also pending adjustmentof status applications.

There were also some employment-based immigrants waiting for immigrant visa adjudications at consulates abroad, but the State Department provides no information about the number of these cases.

There are also some petitions in the backlog filed on behalf of the same person, leading to some double counting. There is also a backlog of 123,234 permanent labour certification applications, which is the start of the employment-based green card queue.

Over half of the backlog is in the EB-2 category. This is the category for employees of US businesses with advanced degrees.

Another 19 per cent are in the EB-3 category for employees with at least bachelor’s degrees. The EB-4 category for “special immigrants” (Afghan and Iraqi interpreters, others with various US government affiliations, and abandoned children) is about 13 per cent. Another 6 per cent are for EB-5 major investors.

(With inputs from agencies)

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