Amid consistent demands to reduce green card wait time, the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS USA) launched an online petition to seek the Biden administration’s support to make the priority dates for Employment Authorization Document (EAD) adjustments of green card applicants from India, who are facing 195 years waiting times.

The foundation cited Congressional Research Service Report - The Employment-Based Immigration Backlog 2020, to underline the 195-year wait time for eligible Indian immigrants.

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According to the foundation “The current situation surrounding the seven per cent country cap on employment-based green card allocation is causing severe repercussions, particularly for countries like India, where the backlog has reached an astonishing 195 years.”

In its petition, the Indian Diaspora group enumerated the implications of backlogs on the US growth story. The prolonged wait time to get green cards for Indian professionals is causing a brain drain to other countries, stifling growth in emerging American industries, limiting entrepreneurship and startup participation and restricting professional family members' efficiency to contribute to economic development. Prolonging the delay further exacerbates the issue of documented dreamers, which leads to family separations despite having spent most of their lives in the US, FIIDS highlighted.

To address the issue, the organization proposed making the priority dates for Employment Authorization Document (EAD) adjustments current, building on a precedent set during the Bush Administration in 2007.” “This action would allow individuals in the 195-year-long green card backlog to apply for EAD and Advance Parole, granting them the ability to start companies, develop patents, hire American workers, change jobs if desired, and have more agency over their lives rather than being tied to a single employer indefinitely.”

FIIDS extended support to the bipartisan appeal led by Congressmen Raja Krishnamoorthi and Larry Bucshon to make the priority date current for employment-based green card backlogs. The Foundation appealed to all representatives of the US Congress to unite and support their cause.