They hope that a merit-based approval system will shorten the wait for the green card.
If you are one among the thousands of Indian nationals who applied for Green Card and waiting for years for its approval, the latest move of President Trump to consider a merit-based selection system will most likely come as a boon to you.
According to reports, the “Buy American Hire American” executive order, signed by Trump last week, has the potential to also help the Green Card applicants as it also includes a proposal for a merit-based H-1B system for the future, which immigration experts say could eventually lead to a merit-based Green Card approval process.
Green Cards provide foreign citizens complete legal rights as a permanent resident and many H-1B visa holders apply for a green card to continue working in the United States after the completion of the six-year period.
One of the hurdles faced by H-1B employees who are otherwise allowed to live and work in the US is the rules that stop them from shifting jobs.
Reuters reported that many H-1B employees have welcomed Trump’s move to review the skilled worker visa program hoping that it will lead to changes in the Green Card selection process.
Trump had asked federal agencies to review the current random lottery-based H-1B visa approval and make suitable amendments so that only highly skilled foreign workers get the benefit of the popular visa system which has been criticized for depressing the American job market.
Even though the Green Card and H-1B are two different programs altogether, the people waiting for the Green Card approval see the current decision of the administration as a move that could speed up their Green Card approval.
According to them, the number of Green Cards approved for each country is capped at a few percent of the total. This is regardless of the size of the country and its population. Currently, there is a huge number of H-1B visa holders from India waiting for the approval of their Green Card. If Trump follows suit and makes merit-based method for awarding Green Cards, it could mean an end to the long wait of thousands of Indians who have applied for Green Card.
Technically speaking, making any change to the current Green Card system will need the approval of Congress. Some congressmen have raised concerns over merit-based system citing that allotting visas based on salaries might eventually hurt the startup ecosystem as they cannot afford higher wages.
3 Comments
Most Indian startups consist of nothing more than another bodyshop pimping out their fellow H-1B recipients. If there is a need for a genius from India, there is the O-1 visa with no cap.
H-1B workers are hired to do as they are told, not to innovate. The H-1B visa can end without any disruption to the truly innovative startups.
“Technically speaking, making any change to the current Green Card system will need the approval of Congress.”
Not going to happen. the greencard allocation system was put in place for a reason: to maintain diversity.
If anything, look for the unlimited renewals of h1bs while waiting for a greencard will come to an end.
It seems many Indians do not understand what diversity means. They seem to think it means ‘non-white’ such that a department with 100% Indian is diverse.
One thing I do not get the logic of is the statement “green-card filing is for future employment”. It appears that the H-1B does not even have to work for the green-card filing employer while he waits for the green card to come through, because it is for future employment. How critical can a job be if an employer can keep that job unfilled for ten years while that original employee works somewhere else.
What am I missing.