US Green Card wait time for highly talented Indians increases further. Here's why
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) delivers a blow to EB-1 visa aspirants, primarily Indians, by retrogressing the final action date by by 10 years, according to August's visa bulletin. This setback delays visa issuance for skilled individuals. The move may disrupts plans, causing uncertainty in careers, studies, and family decisions.
The USCIS bulletin says, the quota for EB-1 visa is oversubscribed for India, subject to prorating under INA 202 (e). The visa prorating provisions of Section 202(e) apply to allocations for a foreign state or dependent area when visa demand exceeds the per-country limit. Till now, applicants from India were able to receive unused visas allocated to certain other countries.
But with the demand for EB-1 visas increasing from these countries as well, the department can no longer issue these visas to India applicants. So applicants from India are no longer able to receive EB-1 numbers under INA 202(a)(5), the statement read, a cited by Economic times The EB-1 green card category for Indian applicants has seen a significant 10-year retrogression, with the final action date moving to January 2012 due to high demand. Many have priority dates from 2012-2015 due to retention from EB-2/EB-3 petitions.
The final action date might advance to October in FY 2024, depending on demand and visa limits. The US Department of State issues a bulletin every month to show whether your green card application has moved forward or not. It also lets you estimate the wait time for the visa and how long it will take for you to get your green card.
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