US Edges Closer to Scrapping Green Card Country Caps

Two Senators have introduced the Equal Access to Green Cards for Legal Employment (EAGLE) Act of 2022 in the senate, which will potentially ease the immigration of skilled workers into the United States.

The EAGLE Act will eliminate the 7% per-country limit on employment-based immigrant visas and raise the 7% per-country limit on family-sponsored visas to 15%, according to www.workpermit.com.

This will allow American employers to hire immigrants based on merit as opposed to their birthplace. The Bill was cleared by the US House Judiciary Committee in April.

At the moment, only 140,000 employment-based green cards can be issued each year, with a 7% cap on every country. 

When applicants from one country surpass the 7% share, a backlog forms, and the excess approved petitions are not considered until a visa becomes available and their petition falls within the initial 7% per-country cap. This creates extensive backlogs, especially for skilled workers from India and China.

Data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) shows that a total of 369,322 applicants with approved employment-based visa petitions are currently waiting for US visa availability.

A majority of them are applicants under the EB2 and EB3 (for professionals and skilled workers) categories which are used by technology companies to sponsor visas for immigrant workers.

To deal with the backlog and speed up processing, the US immigration agency has done away with in-person interviews for several of the applicants.