Close X
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
ADVT 
International

‘Indians With Advanced Degrees May Have To Wait 151 Years For Green Card’

IANS, 18 Jun, 2018 01:07 PM
    Indians with advanced degrees may have to wait for over 150 years for a green card which authorises them to live and work in the US permanently, according to projections by a think-tank.
     
     
    The new calculation on the green card wait period by Cato Institute, a Washington-based think-tank, comes after the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently released a number of applicants for such cards.
     
     
    The calculation is based on the number of green card issuances in 2017. 
     
     
    As of April 20, 2018, there were 6,32,219 Indian immigrants and their spouses and minor children waiting for green cards also known as legal permanent residency cards.
     
     
    The shortest wait is for the highest skilled category for EB-1 immigrants with “extraordinary ability”. EB stands for employment based.
    The extraordinary immigrants from India will have to wait “only” six years, Cato Institute said in its latest report.
     
     
    According to the USCIS, there are 34,824 Indian applicants under EB-1 category. Along with their 48,754 spouse and children, 83,578 Indians are in line for green card under EB-1 category.
     
     
    EB-3 immigrants—those with bachelor’s degrees—will have to wait about 17 years, Cato Institute said. As of April 20, there were 54,892 Indians in this category. Clubbed with 60,381 spouses and children, the total number of Indians waiting for green card in EB-3 category are 1,15,273. 
     
     
    However, the biggest backlog is for EB-2 workers, who have advanced degrees.
     
     
    “At current rates of visa issuances, they will have to wait 151 years for a green card. Obviously, unless the law changes, they will have died or left by that point,” Cato institute said.
     
     
    According to the USCIS, there were 2,16,684 primary Indian applicants under EB-2 category and 2,16,684 spouses and children, thus making a total of 4,33,368.
     
     
    This is primarily because of the existing laws, which impose per-country-limit of seven per cent.
     
     
    In all, 306,400 primary Indian applicants are waiting for their green cards. Clubbed with their spouses and children numbering 325,819; as many as 632,219 Indians in all are waiting for their green cards.
     
     
    In 2017 only 22,602 Indians were issued the legal permanent residency cards. Of these 13,082 were in the EB-1 category, 2,879 in EB-2 category and 6,641 in Eb-3 category, according to the latest USCIS figures.
     
     
    Cato Institute said the green card allocation is not based on the backlog, so 69 per cent of the backlog is in the EB-2 category, but it received only 13 per cent of the green cards issued in 2017.
     
     
    There are two reasons for this, it explained.
     
     
    First, each category is guaranteed a minimum of 40,040 green cards, so the allocation between categories does not adjust when one category has higher demand than the others.
     
     
    Second, EB-2 is currently subject to the per-country limits, that prevent Indian immigrants from receiving more than seven per cent of the green cards issued in the category, the report said.
     
     
    Cato Institute notes that for employment-based green cards, the per-country limit only applies in full force when the category is filled up, meaning that if some green cards would go to waste, Indian immigrants can receive above the per-country limit of 7 per cent. For this reason, Indian immigrants received nearly 18 per cent of the total green cards issued in the EB-3 category in 2017.
     
     
    Referring to the inconsistency in the application of the per-country limit, the report said if the per-country limits end up not applying fully for EB-2 during some future years, they could receive their green cards before the next century.
     
     
    For example, if they received the same number of green cards as EB-3 workers did in 2017, they would have to wait “only” for 65 years, rather than 151 years as projected based on the number of issuances in 2017.
     
     
    On the other hand, if the per-country limits end up applying fully for EB-3 workers after 2018, they could end up having to wait more than 40 years, rather than 17 years, the report said.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    29 Women Arrested In Iran Over Hijab Protest

    29 Women Arrested In Iran Over Hijab Protest
    Iran police on Friday arrested at least 29 women for participating in the ongoing protest against a law that makes wearing the hijab (headscarf) compulsory.

    29 Women Arrested In Iran Over Hijab Protest

    I Am A Proud Daughter Of Indian Parents: Nikki Haley

    I Am A Proud Daughter Of Indian Parents: Nikki Haley
    US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has expressed pride over her Indian ancestry and said one did not need to give up being an Indian to be American.

    I Am A Proud Daughter Of Indian Parents: Nikki Haley

    UK Police Arrest 6 Men On Charges Of Kidnapping, Murder Of Indian-Origin Jeweller Ramniklal Jogiya

    UK Police Arrest 6 Men On Charges Of Kidnapping, Murder Of Indian-Origin Jeweller Ramniklal Jogiya
    The British Police on Wednesday made a sixth arrest in connection with the kidnapping and murder of Indian- origin jeweller Ramniklal Jogiya, who was found dead in Leicester last week.

    UK Police Arrest 6 Men On Charges Of Kidnapping, Murder Of Indian-Origin Jeweller Ramniklal Jogiya

    Bangladeshi Beats Up Indian Boss Over Leave In UAE; Jailed

    Bangladeshi Beats Up Indian Boss Over Leave In UAE; Jailed
    A Bangladeshi worker in the UAE, who brutally thrashed his Indian supervisor and left him partially disabled for cancelling his leave, has been jailed for three months, a media report said on Thursday.

    Bangladeshi Beats Up Indian Boss Over Leave In UAE; Jailed

    Indian-American, Owner Of Tech Firm, Indicted For Bribing US Official

    Indian-American, Owner Of Tech Firm, Indicted For Bribing US Official
    The indictment alleges that Parimal Mehta paid these bribes to Charles Dodd in exchange for preferential treatment for his company, FutureNet, which received approximately $7.5 million from Detroit in 2015 and 2016.

    Indian-American, Owner Of Tech Firm, Indicted For Bribing US Official

    Sky Is The Limit For India-US Relationship: Nikki Haley

    Noting that President Donald Trump is very fond of his country's growing relationship with India, a top American diplomat has said that "sky is the limit" for this bilateral relationship.

    Sky Is The Limit For India-US Relationship: Nikki Haley