What is recapturing of unused green cards and why will India gain from it

Each year, the US sets aside a specific number of available green cards for individuals from across the world However, over the years, several thousands of green cards have been unissued due to various administrative complications. Numerical limitations and per-country caps on green cards have also accentuated the backlog of over 5 million such cards. To tackle the backlog, a US President's advisory commission has now approved the recommendation that more than 230,000 unused green cards for family and employment categories since 1992 be recaptured.

What is the Green card?

A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently.

 

What is the Green Card recapture Bill? 

The bill aims to recapture green cards lost to bureaucratic delays since 1992, including spouses and children of green card holders as immediate family members and would increase per-country caps for family-based immigration," said Arturo Castellanos-Canales,  Policy & Advocacy Manager at National Immigration Forum.

The recapture of more than 2,30,000 unused employment-based green cards from 1992 to 2022 means that  a portion of them will be processed every fiscal year in addition to the annual limit of 1,40,000 for this category. 

The cap on green cards explained

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is authorised by US Congress to issue 226,000 family-preference green cards for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens; 140,000 employment-based green cards for skilled, unskilled, and professional workers, as well as investors; and 50,000 diversity green cards for individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. But bureaucratic delays have resulted in the under-utilisation of available green cards.

"Under existing federal law, individuals from any one country cannot be issued more than 7% of the total number of green cards each year. In practice, the existence of these per-country caps means that individuals from countries with high numbers of green card applicants, such as India, China, Mexico, and the Philippines, face backlogs lasting years or even decades," said  Canales.

 Unused green cards are those that have been left unissued due to bureaucratic delays and slow USCIS processing. As a consequence of numerical limits, per-country caps, and administrative delays, the employment-based green card backlog reached 1.6 million by the end of Fiscal Year 2022 at a time when the United States is facing an acute labor shortage.

What is Green card recapture?

"Green card recapture is a simple strategy that would allocate the total number of unused green cards since 1992 to applicants waiting in the backlog without increasing numerical limitations or per-country caps. This strategy has the advantage of addressing the existing green card backlog through a mechanism that received bipartisan support in Congress in 2000 and 2005. This strategy also avoids a contentious fight over increasing immigration levels since it reallocates unused green cards to meet levels set by previous Congresses," said Canales.

What are the two proposals that have been approved?

"Recapture Unused green cards and Prevent Future Green Card Waste" aims to address bureaucratic delays in the Green Card application process and provide relief to individuals waiting in backlogs, said Indian-American entrepreneur Ajay Bhutoria, who is a member of President Biden's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

Firstly, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State should recapture unused green cards for family and employment categories from 1992 through 2025. This includes the recapture of more than 230,000 unused employment-based green cards from 1992 to 2022 and processing a portion of these every fiscal year in addition to the annual limit of 140,000 for the employment-based category

Secondly, the State Department, in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security, should adopt a new policy to confirm that all green cards, per the annual limit, remain available for eligible immigrants even if the agencies cannot process the relevant paperwork in that fiscal year. This policy should be applied retroactively to recapture green cards that were unused before the new policy goes into effect.

Uused green cards worsens backlog for Indians, restricts mobility of those on H1-B visa
The unused green cards represent lost opportunities for the country and contribute to worsening backlogs, especially affecting Indian-American, Filipino-American, and Chinese-American families, according to Bhutoria.

Furthermore, the lack of a Green Card restricts the mobility of temporary workers on H-1B visas and limits their contributions to the US economy. Children of these temporary workers are at risk of ageing out of immigration status when they turn 21, he said.

According to the Congressional Research Service, over the past two decades, the number of people on the waiting list for family-sponsored green cards has grown by over 100 per cent.

Average wait time for green card is six years but for Indian IT professionals it is more than 10 years

As of 2020, there were approximately 4.2 million individuals waiting for family-sponsored green cards with an average wait time of six years.

For employment-based green cards, there were approximately 1.2 million individuals waiting with an average wait time of six years. 

But for Indian IT professionals, on average, it's more than a decade and many are yet to receive their Green Card even after 15 years.

" While waiting in the backlog, these individuals are limited in their ability to travel abroad or change their job or their employer, and are subject to changing immigration policies. Their children risk aging out of their dependent status if they turn 21 while waiting, and spouses face barriers to work. Aspiring immigrants in the backlog today might have to wait more than 50 years to receive their green cards," according to FWD.US,  a liberal expansionist immigration reform advocacy group based in the United States.

Green card recapture would simply ensure that green cards that Congress had allocated in previous years end up being used, per Congressional intent, and are not permanently lost; it would not increase immigration or authorize new green cards, explained fwd.us.

Is the Green card recapture bill important for the US? 

"A  report by the Niskanen Center indicates that if the federal government recaptures 231,000 unused employment-based green cards, the policy would add $216 billion to GDP over ten years. If it recaptures 940,000 unused employment-based and family-preference green cards, the policy would add $815 billion to GDP over ten years," said Canales .