Hurdles are never-ending for Indian US Green card aspirants and H-1B visa holders

Last week saw three developments with respect to Green Card (GC),the legal permanent residency in the US. And, none of them was good. It would not be too much of a stretch to say things have only gotten worse for GC aspirants who have been waiting to get their decades now to become a legal permanent resident in the US.

One. On July 23, Republican Senator Mike Lee said it would take 195 years for Indian nationals to get a GC and urged that this issue needed a legislative solution. The number of years to get the GC for Indians increased by 45 years from 150 years in 2018, according to an earlier research report.

But, this should no longer come as a surprise, given the large number of Indians applying for the same. Every year, close to one lakh H-1B applications are being issued/renewed.

According to a CATO.org, an immigration think tank, there are more than five lakh Indians waiting in the employment-based green card queue as of 2018. In short, a person might not be able to get their hands on it in their lifetime.

This queue was because of the 7 percent country cap for the GC.

Two. Indian nationals have been demanding for years to remove the country cap, which has intensified now as presidential elections are nearing. Again, July 23 saw huge protests in Washington DC demanding that GC be issued on a first-come-first-serve basis and pass the bill Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 (S386).

S386 allows for the removal of the country cap of 7 percent so that GC can be granted on a first-come-first-serve basis. While Senator Lee has pointed out that the H-1B abuses will need to be documented so that only genuine cases get the benefit, Senator Dick Durbin has been blocking the bill since December 2019.

Three. As if these were not enough, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a delay in printing Green Cards and Employment Authorisation Documents (EAD) since June 2020. The printing backlog includes about 50,000 GCs and 75,000 other EADs.

If the agency furloughs its employees, which it might due to its dire financial situation after August 3, the backlog numbers would further increase.

According to reports, the reduction in printing of the EAD and Green Cards reportedly comes after the agency ended a contract with a third-party vendor with the intention of in-sourcing the printing. But “the agency’s financial situation” instead led to shutdowns and delays, the reports added. The agency is seeking $1.2 billion bail-out and might furlough its staff, reports said.

Impact is massive, just going by the sheer numbers. Indians are the largest beneficiaries of non-immigrant visas such as H-1B, which can be converted to GC. Each year, close to 85,000 H-1B visas are issued and Indians account for more than 60 percent of the visa issued.

Also, without the EAD , Indians could risk losing their jobs. Without cards printed, Indians might not be able to travel back home for emergencies.

The recent immigration decision by the Trump government be it ban on non-immigrant visas such as H-1B till December or banning F-1 student visa holders to enter the US if their colleges have started online classes at the back of COVID-19.

There are lawsuits filed by 174 Indians residents and more recently by trade groups against the proclamation banning visas such as H-1B. It is unclear right now how these lawsuits would turn out. Executives pointed out that it is more likely to be an election gimmick and things would go back to normal by January.

But there is a caveat. As the visa situation becomes more politicised every election in the US, companies and students would choose greener pastures. More offshoring to India will happen, which will benefit us. The US universities will lose their sheen as the American education is expensive and students might look at Canada, the UK or Australia for higher education.

So, whichever way you look at it American has a lot more to lose than the other way round!