Updated April 13th, 2021 at 13:15 IST
Green Card backlog: Indian-American healthcare professionals stage protest at US Capitol
Indian-American healthcare workers staged a peaceful protest outside US Capitol and urged the Senate to pass the Fairness Bill to make up for Green Card backlog
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In a joint statement released on Monday, the Indian-American doctors association in Washington opined that the US currently had a Green Card backlog of 150+ years. The group claimed that this massive discrepancy was due to an archaic policy implemented by the US govt that imposed a country-specific cap on citizens who were allowed to avail Green Card services in the US.
Although the numbers were abysmally low for all nations, computing at less than 7 per cent of employment-based Green Cards for other nations, in India it is even lesser. In its statement, the group explained:
H-1B visas don’t get translated to Green Cards
‘India is a land of a billion-plus people but the number of green cards it gets is the same as a country as small as Iceland.’, read an excerpt from the statement
Although there is no cap on H-1B visas, it is imperative to note that roughly 50 per cent of the workforce issued H-1B visas in the US are from India. This discrepancy between H-1B visas and Green Cards has created a sizeable backlog which is adversely affecting the professional and personal lives of the non-residential Indian (NRI) community living in the US, the group stated.
Indian IT professionals, most of whom classify under the highly skilled category often arrive in the US in the H-1B visa category. They happen to be the most affected community as a result of the current immigration system which imposes a seven per cent quota on India on allotment of the Coveted Green Card or permanent legal residency.
Following the statement, Indian-American healthcare professionals staged a peaceful demonstration outside the US Capitol building in Washington urging lawmakers to pass legislation to end the per-country quota for legal permanent residency in the US.
@POTUS please end the green card backlog for frontline healthcare workers by allowing USCIS to use wasted green cards from the past years @VP @SenAlexPadilla @SenatorDurbin @RepLindaSanchez @SenKevinCramer @lalitkjha @wadhwa @TheH1BGuy pic.twitter.com/Z99276FoOs
— Frontline Healthcare Workers in Greencard Backlog (@frontline_in) April 6, 2021
The humanitarian crisis in legal immigration system, largely ignored by US media and politicians. We are suffering in green card backlog from decades and no one is answerable?? Please end this misery @POTUS @VP @CNN @FoxNews @NBCNews @ABC @CNBCnow pic.twitter.com/0rCuZug3ak
— Frontline Healthcare Workers in Greencard Backlog (@frontline_in) April 12, 2021
S386 & Fairness Bill 2019-2020
Protestors called for the implementation of a “Fairness Bill” that sought Green Card privileges on a first-come-first-serve basis. The Fairness Bill passed in the House of Representatives by 365 votes in 2019 and its Senate equivalent S386 passed the Senate in 2020. However, after the 2020 US elections, the Bill was stalled and is now back in the House of Representatives again with slight appendages and modifications.
What is a Green Card?
Green Cards are official papers that legitimise the prolonged stay of a national from another country in the US. It is a document that is also referred to as a Permanent Resident Card which is issued to US immigrants as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently in the country as a “legal alien”. Permanent residents enjoy many privileges over tourists and immigrants but remain a citizen of their origin country and can’t hold a US passport or vote like a naturalised US citizen would.
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Published April 13th, 2021 at 13:15 IST
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