Biden wants to address delays in Green Card processing system: White House

Washington, October 9

US President Joe Biden wants to address the delays in the Green Card processing system, the White House has said.

The inordinate delay in the procession of hundreds and thousands of talented Indian technology professionals, at times running into several decades, is one of the major issues of concern among the Indian-Americans and their dependent children living here.

"The president absolutely wants to address the delays in the green card processing system as well," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference on Friday.

She was responding to a question on the waste of some 80,000 unused employment-based Green Card numbers, which is officially called Legal Permanent Residency on October 1, as the US Citizenship and Immigration Services are unable to allocate them to several millions waiting in line for green card.

Indian technology professionals, for thousands of whom the wait is running into decades, had urged the Biden Administration and the US Congress to make necessary legislative changes not to let those Green Card slots expire.

Earlier this week, Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks introduced the Preserving Employment Visas Act that would allow the USCIS to preserve unused employment-based visas for use in Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021. The legislation is the House companion to S. 2828, introduced by Senator Thom Tillis in September.

"Ensuring that our immigration system is fair and orderly is one of my top priorities in Congress. These visas are already authorised by Congress and would have been used if not for the Covid pandemic," said Miller-Meeks. PTI

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