A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US
Washington: A US President’s advisory commission has approved the recommendation that more than 2,30,000 unused green cards for family and employment categories since 1992 be recaptured. The move could benefit thousands of Indian-Americans waiting for their Green Card, a PTI report in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says
A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the cconcerned person has been granted the privilege of residing permanently in the US.
This includes the recapture of more than 2,30,000 unused employment-based green cards from 1992 to 2022 and processing a portion of these every fiscal year in addition to the annual limit of 1,40,000 for this category,
Indian-American entrepreneur Ajay Bhutoria, a member of President Biden’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, said in his set of recommendations submitted before the commission on Thursday, July 6.
“Recapture Unused green cards and Prevent Future Green Card Waste” aims to address bureaucratic delays in the Green Card application process and provide relief to individuals waiting in backlogs, he said.
The President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders has approved the recommendation that all unused green cards for family and employment categories since 1992 be recaptured.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is authorised by Congress to issue a specific number of family-based and employment-based immigrant visas annually.
As of 2020, there were approximately 4.2 million individuals waiting for family-sponsored green cards with an average wait time of six years. For employment-based green cards, there were approximately 1.2 million individuals waiting with an average wait time of six years. But for Indian IT professionals, on average, it’s more than a decade and many are yet to receive their Green Card even after 15 years.
However, bureaucratic delays have resulted in the under-utilisation of available green cards, leading to the accumulation of unused green cards over the years, he added.
To tackle this, Bhutoria proposed two key solutions.
First, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State should recapture unused green cards for family and employment categories from 1992 through 2025. This includes the recapture of more than 2,30,000 unused employment-based green cards from 1992 to 2022 and processing a portion of these every fiscal year in addition to the annual limit of 1,40,000 for the employment-based category, he said.
Secondly, the State Department, in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, should adopt a new policy to confirm that all green cards, as per the annual limit, remain available for eligible immigrants even if the agencies cannot process the relevant paperwork in that fiscal year. This policy should be applied retrospectively for green cards unused before the new policy goes into effect, he said.
Bhutoria noted that his recommendation emphasises the negative impact of under-utilised green cards on individuals, families and the US economy.
According to Bhutoria unused green cards represent lost opportunities for the country and contribute to worsening backlogs, especially affecting Indian-American, Filipino-American, and Chinese-American families.
He added that lack of a Green Card restricts the mobility of temporary workers on H-1B visas and limits their contributions to the US economy. Also children of these temporary workers are at risk of ageing out of immigration status when they turn 21, he said.
He said his recommendation aligns with proposals introduced in the 117th Congress to recapture green cards that were previously unissued by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) due to administrative errors.
According to the Congressional Research Service, over the past two decades, the number of people on the waiting list for family-sponsored green cards has grown by over 100 per cent.
As of 2020, there were approximately 4.2 million individuals waiting for family-sponsored green cards with an average wait time of six years. For employment-based green cards, there were approximately 1.2 million individuals waiting with an average wait time of six years. But for Indian IT professionals, on average, it’s more than a decade and many are yet to receive their Green Card even after 15 years.
In his remarks before the commission, Bhutoria applauded the Biden administration for implementing several recommendations of the commission.
Visa appointment delays have been significantly reduced to two-four weeks, allowing individuals to plan their travel and immigration processes more efficiently. Additionally, students applying for a student visa can now do so up to one year prior to their college admission date, providing them with greater flexibility and ease of transition, Bhutoria said.
The commission had also recommended revising ageing out kids on their parents’ Green Card application in December last year, he said.
The USCIS revised the Child Age-Out Calculation Policy, which calculates the age of children in certain immigration cases, providing greater clarity and fairness, ensuring that eligible children retain their eligibility for immigration benefits and do not age out of the system, he said.
********************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com