The average waiting time for Indians to obtain a green card is now 25-30 years.
An Indian-origin student recently asked Vice President J.D. Vance at a Turning Point USA event what the Trump administration was doing to ease the long waiting list for Indians to obtain green cards in the United States.
The 20-year-old woman introduced herself as the daughter of immigrant parents from India on H-1B visas who are still waiting for permanent residency in the United States. The conversation went viral when J.D. Vance praised his Indian in-laws and talked about how immigrant groups should think of America first and not the country they are originally from. One of the interesting parts of the conversation was when the woman said that under the Biden administration, it will take about 150 years for Indians to get a green card.
Donald Trump’s administration is known for its anti-immigration stance, here’s a look at how much time it takes Indians to get a green card in the US.
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IP-2 (Common for those with a master’s degree or higher): The final action date is around July 15, 2014, which means if your priority date was before that, you are now eligible. So, if someone applies for a green card within this quota, the wait time will be 11 to 12 years for the visa number to become available, plus additional processing time.
IP-3 (Bachelor + Skilled Work): The final action date is around November 15, 2013. The waiting time for new applicants will be around 12 to 15 years. These are the two most used paths for H-1B Indians to obtain a green card and due to the high demand for them, there is a huge backlog. The current average waiting time in both categories is 25-30 years.
150 years of waiting for a green card
The “150-year wait time” stems from an analysis by the Cato Institute, which said in a 2023 report that 400,000 Indian workers in the US hoping to obtain an employment-based green card face a wait of 134 years.
The United States has an annual cap of 140,000 work visas, and each country has a 7% quota. The study said there are 1.8 million accumulated cases, including 1.1 million cases from India. “New applicants from India will face a lifelong wait, and more than 400,000 people will die before they receive a green card,” the report said.Waiting time changes depending on various factors. Many applicants upgrade from EB-3 or EB-2 to EB-1, which is a faster route, which opens up some slots. Some choose the EB-5 category reserved for US investors. Some eventually leave the waiting list and settle in other countries.
