From 6,000 in 2011, 35,472 in 2012.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Indian immigrants to the US holding H-1B visas are seeing a rise in the number of them who are being granted Green Cards. Last year, 35,472 of them finally received that coveted status, a number that constituted about 50% of all the Green Cards issued by the US in 2012.
The huge upward surge in Green Card issuance to Indian-Americans – only 6,000 were given out to desis in 2011, making the 2012 figure all the more remarkable – is seen by many as a proclamation by the US to remain on the cutting edge of the IT and Research & Development sectors, where Indian-Americans contribute significantly.
“They need people with specialized skills who can substantially contribute to the knowledge economy,” said Rakesh Prabhu, a partner at the immigration law firm ALMT Legal. “The large base of Indians with advanced degrees and domain expertise is highly sought after and given preferential treatment.”
Currently, a quota system is in place that limits the number of Green Cards issued to citizens of any country to only 7% of applicants. Because countries like India and China have so many immigrants annually, they routinely get hit the hardest by such a low quota. However, most countries never really come close to having such a huge number of immigrants, so leftover Green Cards then get sent over to countries whose applicant lists are excessively long. It seems that this is what happened with Indian-Americans this past year, allowing for the unprecedented uptick.
A Green Card essentially allows an immigrant to work and live wherever they please in the US, and is a critical step towards full naturalization and citizenship. It often takes many years, even decades, for a Green Card to be issued due to the immense backlog of applicants that only gets longer every year.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have been working to eliminate the quote requirements in order to facilitate legal immigration, but progress has been slow, although the currently debated “Gang of Eight” bill contains provisions that would make it significantly easier for immigrants to obtain Green Cards if they come to the US for further studies or employment in technical fields.