Study Predicts Over 4 Lakh Indians Will Die While Waiting For US Green Card: All You Need To Know

A new report states that over 4 lakh Indians will die before they receive a green card to the United States. Additionally, the report reveals over 11 lakh pending applications from Indians in the US employment-based green card backlog.

A green card, also known as a permanent resident card, is a document that grants US immigrants permanent residence in the United States.

The Cato Institute, a US-based think tank, reported that 63% of the total 1.8 million pending employment-based green card applications in the US are from India. This backlog combines with the 8.3 million pending applications from the family-sponsored system.

The report states that new Indian applicants face an extraordinarily long wait time, equivalent to over 134 years.

"About 424,000 employment-based applicants will die waiting, and over 90 percent will be Indians. Given that Indians are currently half of all new employer-sponsored applicants, roughly half of all newly sponsored immigrants will die before they receive a green card," it said.

The US hires many Indians and Chinese for STEM jobs.

However, only 7% of employment-based green cards can be given to people from one country yearly.

This means that Indians face a big problem because more than half of the backlog comprises employees working for US businesses with advanced degrees, including highly skilled STEM professionals and graduates who studied in the US.

The long wait times for green cards have become a growing problem in the US.

Despite efforts from the current Biden administration and initiatives from Indian-American lawmakers, Indian applicants remain stuck in a state of uncertainty.

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"These astounding backlogs and massive waits underscore that legal immigration to the United States is nearly impossible. Even to get to the point of entering the backlog takes an enormous amount of good fortune, and the lucky few that make it through the labyrinth face the daunting prospect of never actually receiving green cards in decades or even their lifetimes," the report said.

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