H1-B: Wait Time In The GC Queue For Some Is 150 Years

Close to 1.5 million Indians in America have been hoping for the elusive Green Card. Will the Biden government and its ambitious new citizenship bill bring them succor?

Back in 2015, when Anirban Das set up Skilled Immigrants in America (SIIA) as a Facebook group, it mainly created awareness among Indian professionals who were waiting on H1-B work permit extensions for their green cards or lawful permanent resident status in the US.

The problem, he highlights, is the country-specific quotas on green cards, which impacts Indian professionals in the US. Almost 70% of the 65,000 H1-B visas, which are temporary work permits for foreign workers in specialty occupations, are given to Indians every year. SIIA, with 1.5 million members, has since become the voice of Indian engineers, doctors, investment bankers, and STEM PhDs who live in the shadow of uncertainty. Thanks to several campaigns run by the organization, the fact that the most talented professionals from just one country have to wait for decades to receive green cards is now widely recognized by several lawmakers and mainstream advocacy groups in the US.

"For Indians, it's the harsh reality of their country of birth coming in the way of their green card, and creating awareness about this is the first step towards redressal. We need to spread awareness on this among American lawmakers and even ask the Indian government for help," says NetraChavan, an immigration consultant based in Silicon Valley.

The CATO Institute, a policy think tank, and the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) have conducted detailed research on the impact of the 7% GC country cap on Indian professionals, some of whom have wait periods of up to 150 years to get green cards," says Das.

The Biden government is attempting to go in for sweeping immigration reforms through the new bill is making several Indians wary uneasy.

As per the immigration lawyers and policy experts, there's a bigger chance of simple reforms going through one issue.

Will the ambitious US Citizenship Act 2021 remain mere rhetoric, or will it bring much-needed relief for thousands of green card hopefuls? One and a half million Indians in the US will be eagerly waiting for the answer.