Around 77% of professionals waiting for a green card are from India, and the waiting time can go from 12, up to 150 years creating instability and uncertainty that can cause major problems for families.
However, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is unlikely to alter the 7% country gap because doing so would likely result in skewing of the diversity of immigrant workers in the US. On 15 August, Lee Francis Cissna, the director of USCIS, said that removing the cap would resolve the waiting time problem for Indians but would also result in Indian immigrants almost exclusively using employment US visas for years to come.
Getting a green card may become even more difficult for professionals, as while previously only those applying for green cards via the marriage and family reunification method had to be interviewed during the process, those seeking employment may also be included, according to Cissna. The process of applying for the much desired H-1B US visas had already been made more cumbersome by the US, with Indians being the worst affected by the changes as they receive more than 75% of the visas.
There has been a dramatic increase in the extra documents needed to prove employment, while the Trump administration has yet to decide on whether to allow the spouses of those holding H-1B US visas to work in the US.