US Green Card backlog: Over 1 lakh kids in US may get separated from parents, 10.7 lakh Indians will have to wait for 134 years

Over 1 lakh Indians in the United States are at risk of being separated from their parents due to the Green Card backlog.

The Green Card backlog is a situation where there are more people who are eligible for green cards than there are green cards available. This is due to the fact that the number of green cards that are available each year is capped.

Over 10.7 lakh Indians are already waiting for employment-based Green Cards (EB-2 and EB-3 categories), which offer legal permanent residency in the United States.

The Green Card backlog is particularly severe for Indians because the number of green cards available each year is capped at 7 per cent of the total number of green cards issued. This means that only about 65,000 green cards are available each year for Indians.

This further means that many Indian immigrants have to wait for 134 years to get a Green Card. In the meantime, they are not eligible to work legally in the US, and they are also not eligible to sponsor their parents for green cards.

According to a recent study by David J. Bier, associate director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, approximately 424,000 applicants are likely to pass away while waiting for the Green Card.

"The 1.1 million cases from Indians in the backlog bear most of the burden of the broken system. New applicants from India will face a lifetime wait, and more than 400,000 will die before they receive a Green Card," Bier said in the report.

This has led to a situation where many Indian immigrants are separated from their parents. The parents are forced to stay in India, while their children live in the US. This can be a very difficult and stressful situation for both the parents and the children.

Under the H-4 visa provisions, children move to the US from other countries to stay there under the H-4 visa. It is a nonimmigrant visa for the spouses and children of H-1B visa holders. For the unversed, H1B visas are temporary work visas for highly skilled workers.

But when the children turn 21, they are not allowed to stay in the United States under the H-4 visa category. These children, who are called "documented dreamers", are then left with two options– get a F-1 or a student visa, which basically allows them to study in the US, but no work permit without obtaining an Employment Authorisation Document (EAD). In order to get the document, one has to go through a very lengthy and expensive process.  However, this can be a difficult and time-consuming process, and there is no guarantee that they will be approved.

The other option is they can return to their home country and wait for their parents to obtain a Green Card. This can also be a long and difficult process, and there is no guarantee that their parents will be approved for a green card.

In the report, Bier highlighted that, "The fact that Chinese and Indians dominate the backlog is the result of the country caps where Green Cards are not issued proportionally to the number of pending applicants in each country but rather limited arbitrarily at 7 per cent per nation of birth."

The Biden administration has proposed a new rule that would allow H-4 visa holders to apply for work authorization after they turn 21. This rule has not yet been finalized, but it would be a major step forward for H-4 visa holders.

The Biden administration has taken some steps to address the Green Card backlog. In March 2023, the administration announced that it would increase the number of Green Cards that are available each year by 300,000. The administration has also said that it is working on a system to prioritize green cards for family members of US citizens and permanent residents.

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