On Saturday, around 200 Indian workers rallied at the White House to show their support for the merit-based immigration reform system, planned by the Trump administration. They argue that thousands of highly-skilled US visa holders who waited years to gain permanent residency in the US would benefit from such a system.
The demonstrators, many of whom were technical workers and software engineers from South Asia, already in possession of H-1B US visas, say that the green card applications backlog has resulted in them being placed in limbo, as their kids face the possibility of becoming too old to be categorized as dependents in the immigration process.
Those at the rally, organized by the Republican Hindu Coalition based in Illinois, urged President Donald Trump to slice through the backlog and make the problems faced by legal immigrants in the US more of a priority. Nandu Konduri, a 45-year-old North Carolina software engineer, has been waiting for the processing of his green card application for more than a decade, since 2007, and says they feel stuck, with their children having already ‘aged out’.
Indians are among the fastest-growing population of immigrants in the US, with around 137,000 in Washington and 3.5 million across the country, US Census estimates show. The community has been made anxious by reports that the President is considering new reforms that would prevent H-1B US visa holders from renewing three-year visas.