Over 8,00,000 Indian Nationals In Green Card Backlog In US

According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data, over 80,000 Indian nationals in line for green card in the US.

Employment based green cards, are often used by large companies to hold on to high-skilled workers by sponsoring their permanent residency in the US.

According to a research paper by CATO Institute, Indian employer-sponsored applicants face an 8-decade wait for green cards, and nearly 200,000 will die before they can even theoretically reach the front of the line.

The green card backlog for employment-based immigrants in 2020 crossed 1.2 million applicants and Indians comprise about 68% of this.

There is currently a 7% annual country cap or 140,000 PERM green cards that are issued annually.

There was an increase in the number of green cards available in financial year 2021, as over 121,000 unused green cards (as a result of the Trump administration banning immigration in certain categories till December) from the family quota was added to this.

There have been calls to reform the PERM process, with US President-elect Joe Biden making green card a part of his election agenda.