US Green Card Backlog: Over 10 Lakh Indians Await, 4 Lakh Lives at Risk

WASHINGTON: In a startling revelation, more than 10 lakh Indians find themselves trapped in the seemingly endless queue for US Green Cards, a pathway to legal permanent residency in the United States. Shockingly, it's estimated that a staggering 4 lakh of these hopeful applicants may tragically pass away while waiting, primarily due to the unprecedented backlog in the Green Card application process. A recent comprehensive study conducted by David J Bier of the Cato Institute has shed light on the gravity of this issue, revealing an astonishing estimated waiting time of 134 years for some applicants.

The study's findings paint a bleak picture. According to Bier, "new applicants from India will face a lifetime wait, and more than 400,000 will die before they receive a green card." What's even more disheartening is that around 424,000 employment-based applicants will succumb to the lengthy waiting process, with a striking 90 percent of them being of Indian origin. Given that Indians currently constitute half of all new employer-sponsored applicants, it's a grim projection that approximately half of all newly sponsored immigrants will tragically pass away before ever receiving their much-anticipated green card.

The root cause of this dire situation lies in the annual cap of 7 percent imposed on each country for Green Card allocations. This cap consistently falls short of the overwhelming demand, leading to an ever-growing backlog that now has reached alarming proportions.

For prospective Indian immigrants, particularly those seeking employment-based Green Cards in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories, the backlog has turned into what can only be described as a "life sentence," as outlined in the Cato Institute study. Moreover, this crisis has far-reaching consequences, not just for the adults but also for over one lakh Indian children currently residing in the US, who face the looming threat of separation from their parents due to the staggering backlog.

Compounding the issue, 1.34 lakh Indian children living in the US under the H-4 visa system will inevitably age out as they reach 21 while their parents wait indefinitely for the elusive green card. This impending age-out process will result in the forced separation of these children from their parents, leaving them with the daunting choice of either securing an F-1 student visa or being compelled to self-deport back to their home country.

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