The long waiting period in the employment-based 2 and 3 categories is a worrying development for the scores of Indians who are awaiting permanent resident status in the US. The bulk of the 1.1 million Indians waiting for green cards in the queue fall into the EB-2 and EB-3 categories.
In the FAQs section of its website, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently disclosed that for the entire fiscal year 2024 (October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024) and beyond, a sizable number of employment-based adjustment of status applications for EB-2 and EB-3 India are in the inventory.
“The number of Indians in queue for green cards is at a staggering 1.1 million; with most in EB-2 and EB-3 categories. Now, USCIS has also announced that there is sufficient inventory for EB-2 and EB-3 I-485s from India for the fiscal year 2024 and beyond,” Manjunath Gokare, founder and managing partner of Gokare Law Firm, a business
immigration law firm based in Alpharetta, Georgia told the Times of India.
Gokare has emphasised to the daily that the current annual cap of 140,000 is insufficient for a nation as economically strong as the United States, underscoring the urgent need for more employment-based visas. The US runs the risk of losing bright people to other nations if this problem is not resolved quickly.
There are fewer unused family-based immigrant visa numbers available to increase the number of employment-based immigrant visas in fiscal year 2024 as the agency resumes regular operations following COVID-19, according to recent USCIS FAQs.
The annual number of employment-based immigrant visas available is anticipated to return to 140,000 once there are no more unused family-based numbers. But this cap, which Congress imposed more than 30 years ago, is not sufficient to accommodate the demand for employment-based immigrant visas across the board, TOI reported.
Essentially, it means greater waiting time for non-citizens from all countries, unless there is an unexpected decrease in the number of non-citizens seeking employment-based immigrant visas.
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