New US bill seeks to double number of annual green cards each year: Report

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United States senators Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy on October 16 introduced the Resolving Extended Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families (RELIEF) Act in the state senate to address stalled immigration issues, The Economic Times reported.

The senators, both from the Democratic Party, jointly introduced the RELIEF Act, which will double the number of green cards issued by the US each year, besides making changes to the current immigration policy.

As of now, 226,000 family green cards and 140,000 employment green cards are issued annually. The move follows the S386 Immigration Bill introduced in July, which also seeks to liberalise the green card regime.

RELIEF addresses the backlog in family and employment green cards, which is unattended have estimated timelines for completion ranging between 10-150 years. The bill also points out the four million people long immigrant visa waiting list besides thousands-long green card waitlist.

Durbin said the bill would tackle “serious problems” in the US’ “broken immigration system”.

If enacted, Indian nationals would be among the biggest beneficiaries. The likelihood, however, seems slim since the Senate is controlled by Republicans, and the party’s recent rhetoric has been staunchly anti-immigrant.