US Congressional committee passes bill to eliminate per country caps on green card

A key US Congressional committee has passed a legislation to eliminate per-country caps on issuing of Green Card on employment-based immigrant visas and to increase the per-country cap for family-based immigrant visas from seven per cent to 15 per cent.

The legislative move, when it is finally signed into law, would greatly benefit the immigrants from India and China, from where hundreds and thousands of employment-based category people are currently having decades-long wait for their green cards or permanent legal residency.

After hours of debate, the powerful House Judiciary Committee late Wednesday night passed the HR3648 or the Equal Access to green cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act on the party lines of 22-14 votes.

The bill now goes to the House for debate and voting. It also needs to be passed by the US Senate before it can be sent to the White House for the President (Joe Biden) to sign into law.

“What happens is, because of the way we set this system up, people who are equally qualified — in some cases, more qualified — are falling behind people just because of their country of birth. That's not merit-based. That's not the opportunity society that America is,” said Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren in her remarks during the discussion in the House Judiciary Committee.