In order to clear the green card backlog, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has decided to issue more than 280,000 green cards before September 30. This is double the normal annual number.
Curtailed operations and closures at US embassies led to numerous available employment-based green cards.
According to data from the USA visa office, over 67000 unused employment-based green cards were available against 14,00,000 million immigrant applicants, a majority of whom are from India.
Despite issuing 1.8 lakhs which is more than the usual number of visas issued in a typical year, the USCIS still fell short of the total available permits.
For Indians having advanced degrees (EB2 Category), there is a retrogression of 2.5 years to April 2012, which is definitely a disappointment for them.
According to reports, the wait time for employer-sponsored green cards exceeded the three-year limit in 2022.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association has lauded USCIS for its efforts, but going by the history of huge green card backlogs, issuing almost 3 Lakh Green Cards before September 30 seems a bit far from reality.
