A video of a US Senator criticising the long wait time that Indians face for Green Cards has been shared extensively online. In the 45-second video, Utah Senator Mike Lee says Indians face a decade-long wait for Green Cards while it is just a 12-month wait for Germans. He called it “anti-ethical to American values”.
The video was shared by a person alleging that the US was discriminating on ethnic lines while issuing Green Cards.
The United States offers a Green Card, which lets people live there permanently. There are a few ways to get one, like having a family in the US, a job offer, or winning the lottery.
Indians applying for employment-based Green Cards face wait times exceeding a decade, while Germans with similar qualifications might only wait a year.
This backlog discourages skilled immigrants and hurts the US’s ability to attract top talent.
Immigration laws ensure that qualifications for these pathways are fair and non-discriminatory, allowing individuals who meet the criteria to stay in the US permanently.
However, concerns about discrimination have surfaced online.
People have argued on X (formerly Twitter) that the Green Card system isn’t truly fair, alleging discrimination based on ethnicity in granting permanent residency.
One social media user took to X said, “Almost two million individuals currently working in America are denied US permanent residency or the ability to travel based solely on their ethnicity. If they die, their kids are deported. When their kids grow up, they are deported if they don’t get their own visa.”
More than a million Indians are stuck in a long queue for US green cards with many professionals waiting for over a decade. Data from the USCIS show over 1.2 million Indians waiting, with significant backlogs in EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories.
The user shared a video on X featuring Utah Senator Mike Lee talking about the country cap issue.
In a 45-second video, the Senator discusses how “Indians wait for the Green Card for over a decade while the Germans only have to wait for 12 months”.
“One from India and the other from Germany, with the exact same skills, exact same degrees and the exact same job experience, applied at the same hour and same day, for an employment-based Green Card-the German might wait maybe twelve months to receive a Green Card well the Indian applicant will almost certainly wait a decade or far more,” Utah Senator Mike Lee stated.
“This kind of system is anti-ethical to American values and the interest our country has in recruiting the very best and very brightest,” the senator added.
The EB-2 category caters to the largest portion of the Indian backlog as this category includes professionals with advanced degrees and people with exceptional ability in science, arts, or business.
An estimated 838,784 Indians are waiting in this backlog. The USCIS data shows this backlog has grown significantly in recent years.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) estimated the backlog for Indians in these categories to reach 2,195,795 by FY 2030, taking 195 years to clear, reported Forbes.
“Someone who got approved for something in 2023 shouldn’t be getting it before someone who got approved for the same thing in 2012. It’s a shame we still have to make this argument in 2024. #RemoveCountryCap,” one user expresses anger on X.
Another user said, “It’s not a decade, that misconception gets repeated over and over again, its over 130 year wait now. Number of people in waitlist is 1m and 8k issued every year. Look at 4th row in the picture.”
