US senator promises to remove Green Card caps for Indians
What's the story
US Senator Roger Marshall has vowed to advocate for the removal of country-based Green Card caps for Indians. The promise comes as long backlogs and proposed increases in naturalization fees raise fresh concerns among Indian immigrants in the United States. Addressing a gathering of Indian-Americans, Marshall said, "We are telling the world's hardest-working immigrants that the line is 70 years long. Not because of what you did but because too many of you came from the same place."
Immigration regulations
Country-specific caps lead to long backlogs
Under current US immigration rules, no country can receive more than 7% of the family-sponsored and employment-based Green Cards issued each year. This cap has resulted in decades-long backlogs for many highly skilled Indian applicants. In May, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that all employment-based Green Cards available to Indian applicants under the EB-2 category for FY 2026 had been exhausted.
Visa distribution
Indians accounted for an estimated backlog of about 700,000 applicants
Every year, the US issues 140,000 employment-based Green Cards with one-third going to EB-2 category along with any unused visas from the EB-1 category. However, this system is also subject to a per-country cap of 7%, which means some 2,800 EB-2 Green Cards per country are issued each year out of an estimated total of around 40,000 visas in this category. In 2021 alone, Indians accounted for an estimated pending backlog of about 700,000 applicants, the largest for any nationality.
Fee increase
Proposed fee hikes for naturalization process
The debate over Green Card backlogs has coincided with wider changes proposed by the Trump administration that could significantly raise the cost of becoming a US citizen. Under a proposal from the Department of Homeland Security, filing fees for Form N-400, the application used by Green Card holders seeking naturalization, would increase sharply. The fee for paper applications would rise from $760 to $1,330 while online applications would go up from $710 to $1,280, an increase of up to 80%.