The U.S. immigration system disproportionately impacts folks from India who’re contributing to the U.S. financial system. Annually, the US points 140,000 green cards primarily based on employment. Nevertheless, these inexperienced playing cards, which permit somebody to dwell and work completely within the U.S., are usually not allotted on a first-come, first-served foundation. On account of antiquated guidelines, inexperienced playing cards are capped; folks from no single nation can obtain greater than 7% of the annual employment-based inexperienced card allotment.
India has the largest population on this planet. That, plus the concentrate on science, know-how, engineering and math training in India, has led to a disproportionate variety of folks from India (versus folks from different international locations) dwelling in the US. Folks from India now characterize the second-largest inhabitants of foreign-born folks in Washington.
Many individuals from India work on H-1B short-term visas, however that visa doesn’t present a direct path to everlasting residency. (The EB-2 and EB-3 employment-based inexperienced card classes present a path to everlasting residency.)
The Cato Institute estimates that 1.1 million Indians are within the inexperienced card backlog within the employment classes. Whereas folks from different international locations like Canada can obtain employment-based inexperienced playing cards comparatively rapidly, some Indians beginning the inexperienced card course of now might face a wait of over 130 years.
The implications are dire for folks from India who’ve spent a good portion of their lives right here and whose youngsters might have grown up right here, for a number of causes:
First, the Cato Institute estimates that greater than 400,000 people from India who’ve helped our financial system develop and have lived most of their lives in the US will die earlier than they get everlasting residency.
Second, over 100,000 kids of Indians will turn out to be undocumented if they continue to be in the US after they flip 21 as a result of they’ll not get a inexperienced card by means of their dad and mom. To keep away from changing into a “documented dreamer,” these kids who’ve been raised in the US need to return to India whereas their dad and mom stay right here to maintain their place within the inexperienced card line. This unfairly separates households.
Third, many Indian workers at U.S. firms are trapped in jobs that will not pay nicely or deal with them pretty. An employer sometimes sponsors an worker for a inexperienced card. If the employee switches employers, they have to begin the inexperienced card course of over again, which places them behind the lengthy queue. That is problematic for workers ready for a inexperienced card, because it restrains their freedom of employment and motion. For anybody else, this may be a violation of human rights, however for employees from India, it’s seen as enterprise as common.
The concept that we must always place inexperienced card limits on a per-country foundation somewhat than deal with everybody equally dates again to 1924, when eugenics had foreign money and the imaginative and prescient of America as a Caucasian nation prevailed. This prevented many nonwhite folks from getting into the US. This modified in 1965, when Congress ended an immigration admissions coverage primarily based on race and ethnicity. Nevertheless, per-country limits remained for employment-based inexperienced playing cards. Most immigration students acknowledge the racism in such quotas.
Employers have lobbied to alter the per-country limits, because it harms them when they aren’t in a position to convey expert employees into the US when there’s a home scarcity. It deters extremely expert folks from India from looking for entrance into the US, given the lengthy backlog they face. Essentially the most devastating impression is on the Indian workers themselves and their kids.
In 2020, Congress got here near fixing this downside. The Home and Senate every handed a bill to take away the per-country limits, however the chambers had been unable to resolve the difference between their two versions. There was additionally a push to extend the annual variety of employment-based inexperienced playing cards from 140,000 to 270,000.
At this time, immigration is extra controversial than ever. Some Republicans oppose any improve in immigration. Some Democrats fear that would-be workers from Africa must wait for much longer if Congress eradicated country-based caps. Nevertheless, no nation in Africa at the moment meets its annual quota for employment-based inexperienced playing cards.
Sadly, this problem seems to be stalled together with a much wider and wanted immigration reform on this nation. Within the meantime, immigrants from India and their employers pay the worth of our damaged immigration system.
