Skilled Indians might wait 70 years for US Green Cards-Reports

United States, 7th October: High skilled Indian professionals getting sponsorship for US work-based immigrant visas will have to wait for as many as 70 years before getting a US Green Card, two new reports by National Foundation for American Policy state.

Exempt skilled professionals from US Green Card quota--According to the reports, if the US wants to keep talented foreign individuals within the nation, it must work towards giving exemption to foreign students having advanced degree in engineering, science, mathematics or technology from US Green Cards quota.

This is the only solution for the US to control brain-drain from the nation and to reap advantages to the US firms and US economy, the reports by a Virginia-based non-profit organization.

The study named ‘Waiting and more waiting: America’s family and Employment-based immigration system’ states that the US must relax its immigration norms to exempt a total of 50,000 international graduates in the field of advanced mathematics, technology, engineering or science from the US Green Card quota.

Reduce waiting periods for US Green Cards--As per current rules, any Indian professional having immigrated to the US under the US EB-2 visa would have to wait for around eight years before becoming eligible for the US Green Card.

And the waiting period for getting US Green Card for Indians having immigrated to the US under US EB-3 visas could be as long as 70 years, the reports maintain.

Waiting period for US Green Cards for Chinese immigrants coming to the US under US EB-2 visa could be 20 years.

This means a huge backlog in the US EB-2 visa category. The reports suggest a significant reduction in the US visa backlogs by speeding up the processing of US EB-2 visas and US EB-3 visas to three years and 10 years respectively.

Contributions of US educated immigrants—The common perception that family members of US Green Card holders apply for and gain US permanent residency is a sheer myth, states the second report named ‘Keeping Talent in America’.

The report suggests certain changes to the US immigration rules which are mentioned below—

• Raise annual US visa quotas and allow unused US visa to roll over from previous years.

• Get rid of annual limit for employment-based immigrants and liberalize it for family-sponsored immigrants.