It comes as no surprise to employers and foreign nationals that it can take years and years for an employee to receive their green card depending on their country of origin. While foreign nationals from certain countries are lucky enough to quickly be at the front of the line, others, like nationals of India and China, are waiting years and potentially decades to receive permanent residence status.
In February 2019, Congress introduced HR 1044 – a Bill that, if passed, would focus more on category and date of filing, rather than country of origin. As it stands, the U.S. has reserved, 140,000 employment-based green cards with a cap of no more than 7% to any one country. That has left a significant backlog for nationals of China and India, with most other countries having much less of a backlog. Under HR 1044, green cards would be approved on a first come first serve basis for those already in that backlog – meaning Chinese and Indian nationals would receive the vast majority. The Act would essentially remove the per-country numerical limitation for issuance of green cards for employment-based (“EB”) cases, and it was also increase limits for family-based immigrant visas.
Fair, or not fair? It’s a tough debate and something Congress has grappled with for several years – what is the best way forward to reduce the backlog in an equitable manner. As of mid-last year, there were almost 400,000 workers waiting for EB green cards – 300,000 of them were Indian. On the one hand, maybe it is fair to allot more green cards sooner to those who are applying from a specific country to meet the need, but on the other, does redistributing the numbers unfairly impact all other countries? Is a better way forward a bill that increases the overall numbers by raising the per-country limits (see former Immigration Innovation Act Bill that didn’t pass) rather than just reallocating them on a different basis? Maybe so, but this is the everlasting debate and much of the reason why something certainly needs to be done.
Employer and foreign nationals alike should always remain apprised of the latest bills being proposed, educate themselves on the details, and work to become involved with immigration reform – it is an issue highly consequential to America’s economy and future on a global front.
Feel free to call me, Danielle M. Claffey, at 404.949.8151, or reach out by email at [email protected].
I think we need a separate immigration law should give citizenship directly if the person stays in USA and paid taxes for last 10 years to make sure that anyone stays longer and paid taxes not discriminate by any category and better chance to get citizenship to avoid decade long waiting for GC