{"id":32181,"date":"2023-07-14T16:08:05","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T21:08:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/?p=32181"},"modified":"2023-08-01T13:19:59","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T18:19:59","slug":"unused-green-card-recapture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.indianeagle.com\/travelbeats\/unused-green-card-recapture\/","title":{"rendered":"All You Need to Know about Unused Green Card Recapture that US Presidential Advisory Council has Approved"},"content":{"rendered":"
Nearly 7.19 lakh Indians are awaiting their employment-based green cards as of September 2021, noted a study published by the Cato Institute. Shockingly, the wait time is estimated to be 90 years (more than the average lifespan of a person!) if no measures are taken to address bureaucratic delays in green card issuance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
These figures underline the necessity of reforms in the US immigration system, which unfortunately is keeping skilled immigrants away from the jobs needing them<\/strong>. Meanwhile, data also reveals that 2,30,000+ green cards under family and employment categories were unused in the period between 1992 and 2022. So, in an attempt to clear the long-pending green card backlog, the US President’s Advisory Commission has given its green signal to the proposal that unused green cards be recaptured. This move is expected to provide relief to over 1.4 million immigrants, who have been waiting for their green cards for years.<\/span><\/p>\nPicture Credit: Fileright.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Why is this Green Card Recapture Recommended?<\/b><\/h3>\n
The US has a limit on annual green card issuance to immigrants. (A Green Card or Permanent Resident Card is an official document granting its bearer the permission to reside and work in the US permanently). This limit is set at 1,40,000 for employment-based green cards and 2,26,000 for family-sponsored green cards. Further, there is a 7% country-based quota system for these categories, which doesn\u2019t take into account either the country\u2019s population or the demand for green cards from them. So, the US doesn\u2019t process more than 25,620 family and employment-based green cards annually to immigrants of a particular country despite receiving a high volume of applications, which only keeps increasing year after year. This led to accumulation of green card petitions, especially from countries like India and China.<\/span><\/p>\n
Indian-American entrepreneur, Ajay Bhutoria, also a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, recommended the recapture of the green cards<\/strong> that have remained unissued due to administrative complexities and delays. Reallocating these lost opportunities to those waiting in hope can help unburden the government by facilitating the clearance of some backlogged applications every year in addition to processing the annual limit of green cards for these categories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
What does Recapture of Unused Green Cards Mean to Indian Immigrants Affected by Green Card Backlog?<\/b><\/h4>\n