In a step closer to easing the immigration of skilled workers in the United States, two Senators have introduced the Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act of 2022 in the US Senate.
The EAGLE Act would eliminate the 7% per-country cap on work-based visas and raise the 7% four limit for family-sponsored visas to 15%. It will allow American employers to focus on hiring immigrants based on merit, not where they were born.
The US House Judiciary Committee approved the bill in April.
Currently, only 1.4 lakh job-based green cards can be issued each year – with a 7% cap in each country. If applicants from one country exceed 7% of the distribution, the backlog forms, and more approved applications will not be considered until a visa is obtained and their application falls within the first 7% in the country.
This creates huge backlogs – especially felt in India and China.
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According to the data provided by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), currently there are 369,322 applicants who have approved work visa applications and are waiting for the availability of visas.
Almost all of these are applicants under EB2 and EB3 (for professionals and skilled workers), used by technology companies to sponsor visas for foreign workers.
“It just tells you how many people are waiting for their visa numbers to get a green card. They did not provide the number of family members attached to these main applicants, and this is important because visas issued to family members also count towards the country’s maximum number of years allowed. each. So, we are looking at years of waiting times,” said Poorvi Chothani, managing partner at LawQuest, a global immigration law firm.
To address the shortage and speed up the process, the US immigration agency has eliminated in-person interviews for some applicants.
Data from the US visa office show that the US government has 66,781 green cards that have not been used in fiscal year 2021, even though 1.4 million immigrants are being issued them.
