Indian professionals in US may get a visa breather

The US House of Representatives has passed by an overwhelming majority legislation to remove the 7 per cent country-cap on green card applicants. The development could end the agonising wait of tens of thousands of skilled professionals from countries like India who have sought permanent residency.

The Bill, when signed into law, increases the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7 per cent of the total number of such visas available that year to 15 per cent, and eliminates the 7 per cent cap for employment-based immigrant visas.

Indian IT professionals, who mostly go to the US on H-1B work visas, are the worst sufferers of the current immigration system, which imposes a 7 per cent per country quota on the allotment of the green card, or permanent legal residency.