1.3lakh kids will age out before obtaining green card, face risk of family separation

Around 10.5 lakh indians are caught up in the employment green card backlog (Eb 2 and Eb 3 categories), which takes 134 year's to process.

But nearby 1.3 lakh kids will ageout till the issue of green card.

Which carries a high risk of family saperation. 

A recent study by David J bier  immigration studies associate director , showed that Annually the US sets aside only 1.4 lakh green cards for employment-based applicants and there is a 7% per country cap. Given the significant influx of skilled Indians in the US – majority of them holding an H-1B visa, this restrictive policy poses challenges. The employment-based green card backlog from India (EB-2 and EB-3 skilled category) has reached 10.7 lakh in March 2023. If factors such as death and aging-out are considered (which will lead to the individuals dropping from the backlog statistics), the wait for a green card is 54 years, else it is a whopping 134 years.

Once children turn 21, they can no longer continue with their H-4 visa, which is meant for dependants and is tied to their parent’s H-1B work visa. On aging out (attaining the age of 21), these children who are referred to as documented dreamers have no option but to obtain an F-1 visa meant for international students, which comes with its own challenges such as limited work opportunities for the student and higher fees. The only other alternative is to self deport to India or another country. Many of these children grew up in the US and have little or no connection with their home country.

Over the past few years, immigration reform bills, which included lifting the country-caps for employment-linked green cards have not fructified. Recently, the America’s Children Bill was introduced, which would protect the documented dreamers from ageing out of their legal immigration status on turning 21. It remains to be seen whether this Bill will be enacted.