The U.S. government could waste 100,000 employment-based green cards this year due to the historic application backlogs related to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, at the beginning of FY2021 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in October 2020 had 120,000 more Green Cards than the normal 140,000. There are less than 2 months left in the current fiscal year, and State Department official Charlie Oppenheim said on YouTube that he estimates the government would end September with about 100,000 Green Cards still not given out. Any Green Cards that are not given out by the end of September will expire.
Green Cards allow holders to permanently live and work in the United States, and immigration law provides two primary routes to obtain them
• sponsorship by family members
• sponsorship by employers
An average Green Card application is taking 10.5 months to process, an increase of 2 months according to government statistics quoted by the Wall Street Journal.
• In June 2021, USCIS announced they are “running at a revenue loss” with a visa processing backlog due to the pandemic closures and cutbacks.
• In 2020, the USCIS had a backlog in printing 50,000 Green Cards and 75,000 Evidence of Employment Authorization cards to work in the United States.
Initiating the application process for a green card may seem relatively straightforward, but there can be an assortment of perplexing issues that can jeopardize the outcome. Each of the forms has words that are based on years of immigration cases or immigration statutes. The words plain meaning can be different from the meaning under immigration law. In some instances, the instructions published by USCIS do not cover all the requirements or factors that an immigration officer will evaluate in his or her decision. An experienced Green Card lawyer can help you understand immigration law and the legal options available to you.
Immigration law can be confusing, and it changes frequently. It is important to have legal guidance from a knowledgeable attorney. The immigration attorneys at Godoy Law Office in Chicago and Lombard can help you with your immigration case. If you need help with an immigration issue, please contact our office or call us at 630-912-0322.
