US lawmakers call for addressing Green Card backlog and resolving H-1B visa issues

Washington: Eminent lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties at an immigration summit have called for urgently addressing the Green Card backlog, an issue that is majorly impacting Indian professionals and the issues related to the H-1B visa.

At the first-of-its-kind 'Tech Immigration Summit' at the US Capitol on Monday hosted by the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora (FIIDS), the lawmakers pushed for removing the seven per cent country quota when it comes to issuing Green Card or legal permanent residency to foreign guest workers in specialised categories.

In the absence of such a move, the Green Card waiting period for Indian immigrants would be more than 20 years and over 70 years in many cases.

A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently.

Congressman Ro Khanna, who is also co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, called for a rational immigration policy.

“We know that immigrants have helped build Silicon Valley, that so many of the companies that have started, that have created so many jobs that have created so much employment have been founded by immigrants from India, from China, from Asia, the Middle East, from Europe,” he said.

Khanna is co-sponsor and lead of the Eagle Act, which he said would get rid of the country caps so that people aren't perpetually in status because that hurts American workers.

“You are hurting American workers by allowing corporations to underpay folks on an H1-B, and you're hurting the families on H1-B. And that's why we need to move them to green cards and ultimately citizenship,” he said.

“It will help raise wages, help American workers, and help these families. We also should be providing a Green Card to folks who are educating in the United States. It makes no sense that we're paying for someone's education at college or giving them STEM, and then we're telling them that they have to go back to where they came from when American taxpayers are funding the education. I'd rather stay here, create the jobs here instead of offshoring those jobs,” Khanna said.

“We made a lot of progress on these bills. We need to now get it again through the House. But the obstacle, as you know, has been the Senate, as is often the case,” Khanna said.

Congressman Eric Swalwell said 40 per cent of his constituents in California were born outside of the United States.

“If we want to take on the bigger challenges, we need the fix. If we want to cure cancer in America, we need to fix a broken immigration system. If we want to see fewer emissions when it comes to how we get our energy, we need to fix our immigration system. If we want to pay less in childcare, we need to fix our immigration system,” he said.

The American immigration system is broken, Indian-American Congressman Shri Thanedar said.

“We need legal immigration solidified; our businesses need that. Every time I meet CEOs of companies, they tell me how important it is to be able to find a skilled workforce. Today we are losing so many people to Australia to Canada because they're taking advantage of our broken immigration system.

"We need to be able to keep the skilled workforce in the US. That's going to help our GDP, that's going to help our businesses to grow, and that's going to create more American jobs,” he said.

“It's in the best interest of the United States to continue to welcome immigrants and make it easier. I think the current system is so stressful to the employees and their families,” he said. Congressmen Rich McCormick and Raja Krishnamoorthi called for passage of the relevant legislation from the US Congress.

Khanderao Kand from the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) said technology immigrants are leading entrepreneurs in big industries.

“From an innovation point of view, the largest innovators, patent holders are coming from the immigration background,” he said. Technology professionals. When they settle, they create jobs and wealth in the United States.

“However, their situation, particularly the largest source of technology professionals coming from India, they are shackled by the seven per cent country quota. This policy created a huge backlog resulting in the green card processing for new applicants for more than a hundred years. They will never be able to get their green card unless technology policies are changed. That's why we hosted this immigration summit. We addressed the issues like, seven per cent quota, EAD, OPT, various such kinds of issues,” Kand said.

“We also discuss about the bills pending in the Congress,” he said.

In addition to several US lawmakers, representations from think tanks, and an official from the Department of State, there were testimonies from the various impacted people, whether they are the pending backlog green card, or could be the documented dreamers, or the family members or the students, all of them.

“In addition to that, technology entrepreneurs came, and they presented their thought processes. So overall, this summit has been very successful and we hope that we can make a dent in the policies both within the Congress and the administration,” Kand said.