The current Green Card backlog for Indians will take more than 135 years to be cleared
Our Bureau
Washington, DC
More than 1.34 lakh Indian children in the United States are at risk of being separated from their parents due to a backlog in the process of granting Green Cards. These Indian children in the US under the H-4 visa category face prospects of being separated from their parents when they turn 21, the maximum age the visa type covers.
This age limit of H-4 visas and the decades-long pendency in the Green Card process has become a major source of uncertainty and anxiety for many Indian families settled in the US. More than 10.7 lakh Indians are in queue for employment-based Green Cards, which offer legal permanent residency in the United States.
If you consider the huge pendency of cases and the 7% cap on each country, this green card process is likely to take more than 135 years to be completed at the current numbers. Even after dropping-out factors, like death and aging out, the wait time is nothing less than 54 years.
By the time the Green Card applications get processed, as many as 1.34 lakh Indian children, who are under the H-4 visa, will age out, a recent study by the Cato Institute, stated. This can lead to forced separation from their parents. The Cato Institute is a Washington, DC-based libertarian think tank.
The Biden administration has proposed a rule that would allow certain H-4 visa holders who turn 21 to remain in the United States and work, but it is unclear if and when this rule will be implemented. Biden had also promised to change the 7% country cap for Green Cards.
