US bill could increase green card cap on family based visas from 7% to 15%

US lawmakers will vote on Tuesday on lifting the seven per cent country-cap on issuing the Green Card, a move that could benefit thousands of highly-skilled Indian IT professionals in the queue for decades.

A Green Card allows a person to live and work permanently in the US.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the bill on the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act increases the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from seven per cent of the total number of visas available that year to 15 per cent and eliminates the seven per cent cap for employment-based immigrant visas.

Indian IT professionals are highly skilled and come to the US mainly on H-1B work visas and the current immigration system face a seven per cent per country quota on allotment of the coveted card or permanent legal residency.