US Presidential Panel Recommends All Green Cards Be Processed Within 6 Months

1.4 million immigrants are queued up for a Green Card and a majority of these are Indians, more than 8,00,000.

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A US presidential advisory commission, after a vote that concluded in unanimity by the 25 commissioners, has recommended President Joe Biden to process all Green Card applications within six months, PTI reported on Tuesday, 17 May.

The recommendations are being sent to the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (PACAANHPI).

If adopted, then it will be huge relief for tens of thousands of Indian-Americans who have been waiting for a long time (some even decades) for a Green Card.

According to new data from the US visa office, 1.4 million immigrants are queued up for a Green Card and a majority of these are Indians, that is, more than 8,00,000.

Chinese people also comprise a significant part of the group of the people waiting for a visa.

The proposal was moved by Indian-American community leader Ajay Jain Bhutoria during the meeting of the PACAANHPI.

"The extraordinary wait time for a Green Card to be available causes significant hardship for American families forced to wait decades to reunite with their loved ones, even though those individuals are already qualified to immigrate right now," the community leader said.

The PACAANHPI recommended the National Visa Center (NVC) of the US State Department to hire more officers to increase their capacity for the processing of Green Card applications and interviews by 100 per cent.

The capacity, the NVC said, should be increased by August 2022.

Additionally, it suggested that there should be an increase in visa interviews, decisions, and adjudication by 150 percent by April 2023.

"Thereafter Green Card visa interviews and visa processing timeline should be a maximum of six months," the NVC recommendations added.

(With inputs from PTI)