U.S. Senator renews push for green card bill

Summary

Subscribed with another email? File | Photo Credit: Getty Images via AFP A Democratic Senator has made a fresh bid to push a bill to provide a pathway to lawful permanent residency for millions of long-term U.S. residents, including H-1B work visa visa holders. "Congress cannot continue to ignore millions of long-term residents who contribute to our economy and communities every day. The proposed legislation, if enacted, would provide a much-needed pathway to green cards for more than eight million people, including Dreamers (undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children), forcibly displaced individuals (Temporary Protected Status holders), children of long-term visa holders, essential workers, and highly skilled professionals such as H-1B visa holders, who have been waiting years for employment-based green cards. Padilla's legislation proposes replacing the fixed cutoff date with a rolling eligibility date, eliminating the need for Congress to periodically amend the law. The bill is co-led by Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin and co-sponsored by U.S. The U.S. employment-based immigration system has, for years, been plagued by long green card backlogs, particularly affecting Indian H-1B professionals because of per-country visa caps. Tens of thousands of highly skilled Indian professionals, primarily in the tech and science sectors, working on H-1B visas, apply for permanent residency every year. Because demand from India vastly exceeds the 7% annual allotment, a huge queue forms. Data suggest that Indians account for roughly 80% of the entire pending employment-based green card backlog, translating to wait times estimated anywhere from 15 years to several decades.