Record Low: A striking reality grips green card hopefuls in the United States, with a mere 3% of applicants anticipated to secure permanent status in fiscal year (FY) 2024.
This challenge is compounded by a surge in pending applications, soaring to around 34.7M at the fiscal year’s commencement—an exponential surge from 10M in 1996.
Record Low approval.
One significant contributor to the green card backlog is the government’s recurring failure to issue all available green cards within the imposed caps. Since 1921, approximately 6.3M green card cap slots have remained unused, exacerbating the hurdles confronting aspiring immigrants.
Despite a total cap of just under 1.1M and processing capacity for uncapped categories for FY 2024, the applicant pool exceeds 35M.
This translates to a staggering 97% of already submitted green card applications likely facing rejection in the upcoming year.
This dilemma leaves new applicants in certain categories staring down lifetime waits for specific country-category combinations, underscoring the systemic obstacles encountered by individuals navigating the challenging path to securing a green card in the United States.
Alarmingly, Indians, comprising half of the applicants in the employer-sponsored categories, could potentially endure a wait of over a century for a green card, emphasizing the urgent need for comprehensive reforms to rectify the inefficiencies and inequities entrenched in the current system.
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