Per-country Green Card cap punishes immigrants from India: US Senator

The per-country cap on legal permanent residency punishes immigrants from India and the wait for the coveted Green Card for Indians runs into 200 years, a top American senator has said, terming the “discrimination” as “inconsistent” with the principles of a merit-based immigration system.

Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently.

Indian IT professionals, most of whom are highly skilled and come to the US mainly on the H-1B work visas, are the worst sufferers of the current immigration system which imposes a seven per cent per country quota on allotment of the coveted Green Card or permanent legal residency.