Washington:

A gaggle of US lawmakers has urged the Joe Biden and his administration to take government motion to make precedence dates present for Inexperienced Card candidates from India to cut back the 195-year-long wait interval and backlog which has left them in a relentless state of limbo.

Led by Congressmen Raja Krishnamoorthi and Larry Bucshon, the bipartisan group of 56 lawmakers despatched a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas requesting the administration take government motion to supply reduction to high-skilled employment-based visa holders.

Of their letter, the US lawmakers additionally appealed to the administration to mark all dates for submitting of employment-based visa purposes within the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ printed Employment-Based mostly Visa Bulletin as “present”.

A Inexperienced Card, identified formally as a Everlasting Resident Card, is a doc issued to immigrants to the US as proof that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing completely.

The present state of affairs surrounding the seven per cent nation cap on employment-based Inexperienced Card allocation is inflicting extreme repercussions, significantly for international locations equivalent to India, the place the backlog has reached an astonishing 195 years, stated Basis for India and Indian Diaspora Research (FIIDS USA) in a separate attraction to the US President Joe Biden.

This backlog disproportionately impacts Indian tech professionals, who represent a good portion of the extremely expert STEM expertise and US-educated graduates, enjoying a vital function in sustaining the USA’ aggressive edge within the expertise industries, it stated.

STEM stands for Science, Know-how, Engineering and Arithmetic (STEM) topics.

Nevertheless, the backlog has created a big barrier, hindering these proficient people from contributing meaningfully to the nation’s progress and innovation, the FIIDS noticed.

This 12 months, the FIIDS has made a number of efforts in addressing the issues of the immigrant Indian group, specifically these associated to Inexperienced Card and H-1B visas.

“We began efforts to get reduction to Indian H-1Bs who’re caught in Inexperienced Card processing. We launched a change petition, we’re approaching representatives, numerous different organisations and influencers. We’re reaching out to the Bureau of consular providers within the state division in addition to the USCIS within the DHS to take administrative motion to make the precedence dates present for inexperienced card candidates,” Khanderao Kand from FIIDS stated.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that enables US firms to make use of international employees in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical experience.

Know-how firms depend upon it to rent tens of 1000’s of staff annually from international locations like India and China.

The lawmakers of their letter stated that marking all dates as “present” would enable employment-based purposes to be filed no matter candidates’ country-based precedence date. This would supply reduction to 1000’s of people trying to legally navigate the US immigration system and will probably additionally make some eligible for employment authorisation paperwork to vary jobs, begin companies, and journey overseas to go to household with out penalty, it stated.

With out this administrative motion, which was additionally used in the course of the administration of President George W Bush, people are left in a relentless state of limbo and, in some instances, are punished for utilising a pathway of authorized immigration by being compelled to stick with one firm or organisation as a result of their Inexperienced Card standing, they stated within the letter.

“I am proud to affix my colleagues in urging the Biden administration to deal with bureaucratic delays in our authorized immigration system which can be holding again our financial system whereas leaving so many households in limbo,” Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi stated.

“Through the use of its authority beneath the prevailing legislation, the administration can ease this burden whereas strengthening our financial system and serving to to create jobs,” he stated.

Congressman Bucshon stated, sadly, as a result of bureaucratic purple tape in “our nation’s authorized immigration system, they’re caught within the visa backlog and haven’t got the pliability to vary jobs, begin companies, and journey overseas with out penalty”.

“I consider that it is necessary for the administration to behave inside the present legislation to make it simpler for these authorized immigrants to navigate our immigration system and proceed making a optimistic contribution to our nation and our financial system,” Bucshon stated.

President of Immigration Voice Aman Kapoor stated that “this commonsense measure proposed within the letter by Congressmen Krishnamoorthi and Bucshon could be an absolute sport changer to supply primary human rights equivalent to the power to vary jobs and journey for almost a million excessive expert immigrants whose standing within the US can finish at any second and is completely dependent upon the whims of their employer”.

The complete foundation for this downside is a “discriminatory” immigration system that requires Indian nationals to have to attend “200 years for a Inexperienced Card whereas individuals from 150 different international locations don’t have any wait in any respect”, Mr Kapoor stated.

“We now name on the Biden administration to do the proper factor and heed the decision of this uncommon bipartisan letter and provides high-skilled immigrants right here for over a decade the identical rights to work and journey that folks being paroled into the US for the primary time simply this week have,” he stated.

“We aren’t any much less deserving of primary human rights and equity than anybody else and we hope the Biden administration will agree,” Mr Kapoor stated.
 

(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)