Close X
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
ADVT 
International

Merit-Based Immigration Will End Green Card Backlog: White House

The Canadian Press, 09 Feb, 2018 04:13 PM
    US President Donald Trump’s immigration framework will end the diversity lottery visa to help reduce Green Card backlog of high-skilled workers, the White House said on Thursday amid growing demands by Indian H-1B visa holders to remove the per country-limit on its allotment.
     
     
    Indian-Americans, most of whom are highly skilled and come to the US mainly on H-1B work visas, are the worst sufferers of the current immigration system which imposes a 7 per cent per country quota on allotment of Green Cards or permanent legal residency.
     
     
    As a result, the current wait period for Indian skilled immigrants for Green Card can be as long as 70 years.
     
     
    Over the last one week, many Indian skilled immigrants gathered in Washington DC from various parts of the US to ask the Trump Administration and Congress to remove this major anomaly in the immigration system.
     
     
    “President Trump’s framework would end the visa lottery programme and reallocate some of the visas to help reduce backlog of high-skilled, employment-based immigrant cases,” the White House said in a fact sheet titled ‘ending the economic harm caused by our immigration system’.
     
     
    Later in the evening, Trump called for ending the visa lottery system.
     
     
    “Time to end the visa lottery. Congress must secure the immigration system and protect Americans,” he tweeted.
     
     
    The White House said Trump favoured a merit-based immigration system, which attracts the best and the brightest from across the world.
     
     
    “I think the President wants to see legal immigration reform. He wants to see us move from a process that currently exists in law of extended family chain migration toward merit-based immigration reforms,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah told reporters during his first ever White House press conference.
     
     
    He said the Trump administration wanted to ensure that people coming into the country are the best and the brightest, regardless of nationality, creed, religion, or anything else in between.
     
     
    “We want to look at the educational backgrounds, ability to contribute to the workforce in a way that helps American workers. So the President wants to see reforms that improve America’s economy,” Shah said.
     
     
    According to Senate Republican Policy Committee, every year the US on an average allocates some 50,000 green cards through lottery for people from countries who do not get an opportunity to come to the US through the merit-based employment visas.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Bangladesh Police Detain Wife, In-Laws Of New York 'Attempted Suicide Bomber'

    Bangladesh Police Detain Wife, In-Laws Of New York 'Attempted Suicide Bomber'
    Bangladesh Police detained the wife and in-laws of New York's 'attempted suicide bomber' Akayed Ullah for questioning in Dhaka, the media reported.

    Bangladesh Police Detain Wife, In-Laws Of New York 'Attempted Suicide Bomber'

    India's Lakshmi Puri Among 6 Diplomats To Receive 'Power Of One' Award At UN

    India's Lakshmi Puri Among 6 Diplomats To Receive 'Power Of One' Award At UN
    The inaugural 'Power of One' award is bestowed upon exceptional people who have toiled selflessly to help form a more perfect peaceful and secure world for all of us.

    India's Lakshmi Puri Among 6 Diplomats To Receive 'Power Of One' Award At UN

    Teen Footballer Nitisha Negi's Father Seeks Sushma Swaraj's Help To Bring Back Body From Australia

    Teen Footballer Nitisha Negi's Father Seeks Sushma Swaraj's Help To Bring Back Body From Australia
    Nitisha Negi was one of the five Indian footballers who were swept away by a huge wave on Sunday when they ventured into the sea waters after the completion of the games.

    Teen Footballer Nitisha Negi's Father Seeks Sushma Swaraj's Help To Bring Back Body From Australia

    ISIS-Inspired Bangladeshi Bomber Arrested After Blast In New York Subway

    ISIS-Inspired Bangladeshi Bomber Arrested After Blast In New York Subway
    Akayed Ullah, the 27-year-old suspected bomber, had wires and a pipe bomb strapped to his body. The device prematurely exploded between two subway platforms near Port Authority, which is America's largest bus terminal, police said

    ISIS-Inspired Bangladeshi Bomber Arrested After Blast In New York Subway

    Kansas Hero Ian, Who Took Bullet For An Indian, Honoured By Time

    Kansas Hero Ian, Who Took Bullet For An Indian, Honoured By Time
    Time magazine has honoured Ian Grillot, the US national who took a bullet for an Indian while trying to intervene during a racially-motivated shooting in Kansas early this year.

    Kansas Hero Ian, Who Took Bullet For An Indian, Honoured By Time

    30-Yr-Old Hyderabad Student Mohammad Akbar Shot At In Chicago; Seriously Injured

    30-Yr-Old Hyderabad Student Mohammad Akbar Shot At In Chicago; Seriously Injured
    Mohammad Akbar was seriously wounded in the shooting on December 6 in the Albany Park neighbourhood in Chicago

    30-Yr-Old Hyderabad Student Mohammad Akbar Shot At In Chicago; Seriously Injured