Indians top at US green-card backlog

About 8,00,000 immigrants work legally in the United States who do not have a valid citizenship yet. These immigrant workers are currently waiting to clear the backlog in this employment-based immigration and are awaiting a green card. According to The Washington Post, most of these 800,000 immigrant workers are from India. Indians are so much into the backlogs that an Indian national who applies for a green card now might wait up to 50 years to get one. This is because the annual quota of green cards has remained unchanged since 1990. But what is this green card? A green card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently in the United States. Individuals with green cards are known as Lawful Permanent Residents (LPR) or green card holders. There are an estimated 13.2 million green card holders of whom 8.9 million are eligible for citizenship of the United States. Green card holders are statutorily entitled to apply for U.S. citizenship after showing evidence that they have continuously resided in the United States for at least five years and are persons of good moral character. In the employment sector, most of the backlogs (almost 75 percent) are of the Indians. Indian nationals who are receiving their green cards now had to wait at least 10 years compared to China who have been waiting for four.