Getting the US residency status is the dream of every immigrant worker. If you look at the long pending queue of Green Card applications and the present rules, it can take 70 years before your application comes up for consideration.
The data released by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows that over 3 lakh Indians are waiting in line to get their Green Card. As of May 2018, a total of 3,95,025 foreign nationals are waiting for Green Card, of these 3,06,601 are Indians.
With this trend, it can take at least 70 years before your application comes up for consideration. Indians account for more than 75% of total Green Card applications. Indians are followed by Chinese with 67,031 applications. Other major countries that apply for Green Card include El Salvador (7,252), Guatemala (6,027), Honduras (5,402), Philippines (1,491), Mexico (700) and Vietnam (521).
Green Card basically grants permanent residence status to individuals to live in the US. The number of foreign nationals waiting for Green Card does not include the number of dependent beneficiaries associated with the approved immigrant petitions.
Under the existing law, less than 7% of Green Cards have been issued to natives of any independent country. So far, Indians have the longest waiting period for Green Card. The H-1B visa holders that come to the US suffer the most in the grind of Green Card.
Since the H-1B visa is valid only for three years, these candidates have to renew the visa every three years. Most H-1B visa holders come to the US with families, they have to apply for Green Card in-order to continue their residence in the US. By far, Indians have the longest waiting period for Green Card.
Most of Indian-Americans that come to the US on an H-1B work visa are the worst sufferers of the current immigration system. The system imposes 7% per country quota on allotment of green cards or permanent legal residence. GCReforms.org suggests that skilled Indian immigrants may have to wait for anywhere between 25-92 years for a Green Card due to the per-country limit.