America often prides itself on welcoming immigrants with open arms. Yet, as millions of migrants enter the United States each year, they face routine challenges: language barriers, employment instability, and xenophobia. All of the aforementioned difficulties make assimilation, inclusion, and economic prosperity difficult for new immigrants. This has been seen throughout American history, especially for non-European immigrant populations. In particular, restrictive immigration laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1924, which were in force until the 1960s, made immigration from Asia exceedingly difficult, putting assimilation and prosperity even further out of reach for these communities.
Once more, a group of migrants is forced to rethink whether America is a land of opportunity. Worst of all, this is simply because of the disadvantages they face by being from one particular country: India.
A Growing Green Card Backlog
The United States’ Indian population has increased 13-fold since 1980. Today, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, there are almost four million Indian-origin residents in the United States, making them the second-largest immigrant population in the country, after Mexican immigrants. Many Indian immigrants, including doctors, engineers, and computer specialists, are attracted by American institutions and corporations looking for highly educated workers, especially within the IT sector.
The United States government is tasked with processing green card applications for all migrants entering the country. This process is intended to provide immigrants a straightforward pathway toward permanent residency and eventual citizenship. However, the National Foundation for American Policy reports that over 1.2 million Indian migrants are currently still waiting for employment-based green cards. To make matters worse, the Congressional Research Service estimates that the green card backlog for Indians could reach over two million by 2030 and would take almost 195 years to clear. Unfortunately, this means that many Indian migrants will never become American permanent residents or citizens, leaving millions deadlocked in the immigration process.
Congress’s Continuous Inaction
Since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the United States has had a history of instituting strict country-based quotas on migrants. This policy continued with the Immigration Act of 1924, with the U.S. allocating 82% of all available visas to Western and Northern European Countries, 14% to Eastern and Southern European countries, and just 4% to Eastern Hemisphere countries. These quotas were actually based on the proportions of immigrants in the United States in 1890, specifically because more Eastern and Southern Europeans had immigrated between 1890 and 1924. The Immigration Act of 1924 was eventually replaced in 1965 by the Immigration and Nationality Act, which abolished the quota system and opened America’s doors equally to immigrants from all countries, including Indians. A preference system was established, prioritizing unmarried adult children of a naturalized individual, scientists, individuals in professions with exceptional ability, and workers in occupations with low labor supply.
However, despite the termination of the quota system, America’s history with quotas still impacts current immigration policies. Under the Immigration Act of 1990, which remains in force today, only 7% of migrants from any given country can receive employment-based green cards. Furthermore, only 140,000 employment-based green cards can be issued each year. This inherently creates problems when a large number of migrants come from one specific country, such as India. Additionally, employment-based green cards are also given to the dependents of skilled workers. The Cato Institute estimated that in 2022, only 45% of employment-based green cards actually went to workers, while 55% went to their dependents. This effect compounds the problem for Indian migrants, many of whom are able to procure jobs in the United States and start families more quickly than other migrant groups.
Congress has tried numerous times to pass legislation to solve the problem, but to no avail. A recent attempt was the Biden administration’s proposed U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, which sought to raise the annual green card limit, eliminate the per-country limit, expedite permanent residence to those waiting for at least 10 years, and remove dependents from the count for employment-based green cards. However, with staunch GOP opposition, this bill has remained stalled in the Senate.
Another stopgap proposal was included in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act of 2022, in which Democrats aimed to exempt those with a Ph.D. in STEM fields or master’s degrees in “critical industries” from annual employment-based green card limits. However, this clause was opposed and eventually removed by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in committee.
These failed efforts at reform come at a time in which anti-immigration sentiment runs rampant within American politics. According to an AP-NORC poll conducted in March, 32% of Americans believe that there is a “major risk” that immigrants arriving legally will commit crimes in America. Attitudes on this issue are also highly partisan, leaving little path for legislative compromise: 71% of Republicans in America believe that legal immigrants will commit crimes, compared to just 17% of Democrats. This gap is reflected in the rhetoric of GOP leaders. For example, former President Donald Trump has declared that immigrants have been “poisoning the blood of our country,” even proposing to deport up to 20 million people. While Trump’s rhetoric has often been targeted in relation to illegal immigration, it has likely also influenced GOP voters’ attitudes on legal immigration, with 47% of Republicans believing that legal immigration should decrease.
The Real Impacts Across America
The impacts of the ever-growing backlog of Indian migrants, and the chronic congressional inaction to reduce it, are reverberating across the country. American companies, especially within the tech industry, are looking to attract talent within STEM fields. Given that much of this talent is born overseas, this is becoming increasingly difficult, as conditions become more dire for Indians in the United States.
In addition, the United States is discouraging foreign talent from migrating at all, especially individuals in STEM fields. A policy brief from the National Foundation for American Policy indicates that the number of Indian graduate students in science and engineering dropped by 40% between 2016 and 2019. During the same period, Indian students attending Canadian institutions increased by 182%, simply because it is easier for Indian migrants to become permanent residents in Canada, where the points-based Express Entry system processes 80% of green card applications within six months. Effects are also being felt in the United States’ healthcare industry, in which Indian migrants make up the largest source of immigrant doctors and second largest source of immigrant nurses. As a result of the green card backlog, America is now experiencing a shortage of nurses in hospitals and nursing homes across the country, especially because nurses aren’t eligible for temporary work visas, unlike other professions.
Processing backlogs have also spread to American consulates in India, which have to renew visas for Indian migrants living in the United States. It is common for migrants to have to wait three years to even receive an appointment with these consulates, meaning that migrants living in the United States can go years without seeing family in India.
To make matters worse, visa and green card processing backlogs have now led to a surge in undocumented Indian migrants coming in from the Southern border. This parallels the historic increases in southern border crossings among Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish, and Chinese immigrants, for whom legal immigration to the United States is not viable given the procedures necessary for legal immigration and the resources required. There were 96,917 Indians detained from October 2022 through September 2023, a fivefold increase from the same period between 2019 and 2020. Simply put, America has become increasingly inhospitable for Indians looking to enter the country legally, causing many to either migrate to countries such as Canada or enter the United States illegally.
Rethinking Opportunity
The green card backlog for Indian migrants has heartbreaking consequences. For those who have already migrated to the United States, many are being forced to give up their green card and citizenship aspirations. If their visas are not renewed, they are forced to return to India. As the problem worsens, it remains a constant reminder for millions who are waiting for citizenship that they do not have the same rights or freedoms as natural-born citizens. Simply because of their national origin and the immigration quotas in place, they are caught up in a subtle continuation of America’s history of systemic discrimination toward specific immigrant populations.
Technology companies across America are now lobbying to reform the green card process to attract Indian migrants who are skilled in computer science and information technology. But it will ultimately be up to the U.S. government to take the initiative to reform the green card process. Otherwise, for the millions of Indian migrants who call our country home, as well as the many Indians thinking of coming in the future, America is no longer the land of opportunity and freedom that it once was.
