HR392
May 10, 2018
Today marks 6 Years of my approved application for EB2 Green Card which was submitted to USCIS by my Employer, after completing a laborious Perm Labor process which took 2 Years due to a random RFE on my case. However, Even after waiting for 6 plus years, I and my family do not foresee getting a Green Card for another 70+ years due to a long backlog in obtaining Employment-based Green Cards for citizens of India, China, and few Other Nations.
People born in any other country get their Employment Based Green Cards in less than 6 months. This is due to the fact that The United States has a Law stating that no country can get more than 7% of Green Cards in any category. However, This law is not justified for Employment Based Green Card as the person getting a Job in The United States is Based on his or her ability not the country of origin.
The United States is an amazing country and I feel lucky to get the best Education from the US and feel proud to be a contributing member of this community and work for Qualcomm.
If I look back I left my country practically when I completed my Under Grad almost a decade ago and have known The United States since then. I talk with people regarding the Political system of The United States.
I remember watching the Election Results Night for 2016 Election with one of my close Friend in Dallas with Pack of local beer, Guacamole and a bag of chips. Basically, I feel like American until reality strikes that I am here on H1B visa (A non-immigrant and temporary VISA) and gets terrified after thinking that the life I have built over last decade may come to an end once temporary visa comes to an end.
When these thoughts kick in, It starts to cloud my judgment and thought process. I feel like my last 10 Years had been a real-life Constraint satisfaction Problem and I keep looking for an Algorithm to solve this.
Then I console myself by stating that I am not alone there are a lot of people like me in this situation. Some estimates show that there are almost 1 Million people in this Limbo state of approved Immigration Petition but waiting for Green Card date to become current.
Some of us have aging kids who won’t be eligible as H4 dependents because they will not meet the Age Criteria and will be forced out of the country to leave their American siblings behind. Some of us cannot go to Funeral of our loved ones because they have H1B in an approval process. Some of us choose to skip Wedding of our loved ones because of fear of Rejection or Delay in Visa stamping at Embassy back home.
While researching on this further I found that there is a solution to our misery, there is a bill in Congress which has more than 317 Co-Sponsors and has Bi-Partisan support called HR.392 Fairness for High Skilled Immigration.
The beauty of the Bill is that without adding any more Green Card numbers it will reduce the wait for green cards from 70 Years to 5-6 Years for backlogged countries.
I just hope that Congress does act on this bill and if possible Pass it. However, the current political environment makes me feel that chances of it passing both House and Senate are very slim.
I am still hopeful tough that Congress will not let us down!