The Republican senator praises India and Indians and says it’s unfair that Indians have to wait 70 years for green cards.
Republican Senator Roger Marshall has called for increasing the number of Indians in the United States at a time when many of his party colleagues want to permanently stop the entry of Indians on H-1B visas.
Marshall said he does not support a per-state cap on green cards, which would make the wait for green cards for Indians as long as 70 years in some cases. While addressing the Indian-Americans, the senator showed his support for the community and said, “We are telling the world’s most industrious immigrants that the line stretches back 70 years. Not because of what you did but because so many of you came from the same place.”The wait for a green card, permanent residency in the US, is long for Indians as there is an annual cap on the number of people who can get a green card.
No country can have more than 7% of the family-sponsored, employment-based green cards issued each year. As the number of applications from India exceeded the allotted number throughout the year, the backlog of applications is now about a decade old.Depending on their category, Indians who get a green card this year (2026) must have applied for it around 2013-2014.Speaking at an event on Capitol Hill, organized by the Foundation for Indian Studies and the Indian Diaspora, Marshall said the per-country green card cap is one of the great injustices of the United States, and he will continue to raise the issue legally and reasonably.
Praising India, Marshall said, “Both countries win when this relationship succeeds. American farmers win, Indian consumers win, and the strategic balance of the twenty-first century leans toward democracy and away from tyranny.”American Indians represent 1.5% of the American population, but pay 5-6% of all federal income taxes, Marshall said. “Every time someone in Washington wonders whether legal immigration works, you are the answer,” he said.
“You are not the argument, you are the answer.”
Do Indians really have to wait 70 years to get a green card?
There are different types of green cards and the waiting time for each is different than the others. But a 70-year wait is a well-known claim based on the expectations of a person entering the waiting list today, as the per-country cap is neither removed nor increased while the numbers of applications grow each year. But many people are leaving the waiting list to return to India, making way; Some change their category and this adjustment keeps changing the waiting time.
