Backlog of Employment-Based Green Cards Reaches 800,000

800,000 immigrants who are working legally in the United States on a temporary visa are waiting for a green card, reports the Washington Post on the current backlog of employment-based green cards. Quotas on Green Cards have created a backlog that is so long that many immigrants wait years – even decades – to get a green card. Business leaders are concerned the current backlog and Congress’s reluctance to take action to resolve the situation could push Indian workers, who are the primary foreign nationals affected by the current quota system, to seek jobs and citizenship in other countries. “An Indian national who applies for a green card now can expect to wait up to 50 years to get one…In the employment category, approximately 75 percent of the backlog is Indian” 

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, an opponent of the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act which would remove country caps to allow immigrants to receive green cards on a first-come, first-serve basis, has proposed his own bill, the Relief Act, that will eliminate country quotas and raise the number of employment and family-based green cards. Under the Relief Act, spouses and minor children will not count against the total quota, and children of applicants will no longer age out at 21.

Family Values and Green Cards

Durbin’s primary goal in blocking the act is to protect families. Currently, spouses and children of green card applicants count toward the annual cap of 140,000 employment green cards, which led to Durbin’s Relief Act. If a green card holder’s child ages out at age 21, they can be deported and sent back to their home country.

Congress does not have a vote scheduled on the competing employment-based immigration bills that will alleviate the backlog of employment-based green cards.

Do you want to get a Green Card in Chicago? The increasingly complex rules governing legal admission to and naturalization in the United States has made the immigration process difficult to understand. With experience in many difficult immigration cases, Mario Godoy and the other skilled immigration attorneys at the Godoy Law Office can assess your situation and advise you on your best options. Call today at 855-554-6369.