(Image source from: Hindustan Times)
A topmost American lawmaker arguing the case of thousands of Indian professionals waiting for their permanent legal residency has called for lifting country-cap on green card, saying the existent system of rules acts a power imbalance betwixt employer and employee.
The green card backlog was driven in part by the American laws that cap the number of employment-based green cards that can be issued each year to a given country, said Senator Orrin Hatch, President of Pro Tempore of United States and chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force.
The respective individuals from midget countries with a few emigrants to the United States experience comparatively short green card delays, while individuals from ample countries like India and China face decades-long delays, he said at event hosted by Compete America on Tuesday.
“There is no good reason to force a worker from a large country to wait longer to obtain a green card simply because he or she happens to come from a large country. We should care about skills, not country of origin. The result is that individuals from large countries who come to the US on temporary worker visas end up stuck in limbo for many years, unable to change jobs or seek advancement for fear of losing their place in the green card line,” Hatch said.
With a decades-long green card backlog for individuals from countries like India and China with a impermanent worker visas who desire to passage to lawful permanent resident status may stuck in the same job for long time.
The I- squared act of 2018 introduced by Senators Orrin Hatch and Jeff Flake provides work authorization for spouses and dependant children of H-1B visa holders and establishes a grace period which H-1B visa holders can change jobs without losing legal status that can solve issues.
The study by Kauffman Foundation found that more than one million extremely well-educated people and their families are presently ready and waiting for green cards as yet merely 140,000 Employment based green cards are available annually.
By Sowmya Sangam
