‘For green cards, techies ready to fund Mexican wall’

WHILE PEOPLE OF

OTHER NATIONALITIES ALSO HAVE TO WAIT FOR THEIR GREEN CARD, INDIANS WAIT THE LONGEST — AROUND 70 YEARS AT CURRENT RATE OF DISPOSAL

WASHINGTON: Indian H-1B workers in line for the green card are launching a major push for a bill that proposes to cut the waiting period for permanent US residency, backing it with an offer of at least $4 billion to fund border security, including a wall along the Mexican border.

They propose to raise the money through green card processing fee, collected from every one of the estimated 1.5 million visa-holders from India, including primary and dependent recipients, and an additional fee for biometric services, said their advocacy group Immigration Voice. The exact sum to be offered in the bill, called the Fairness for High-skilled Immigrants Act of 2017, is still being worked out, as is the individual fee. But those involved with the process said the “combined total could add up to more than $4 billion”.

“Indian high-skilled workers will gladly, enthusiastically and happily pay for the border security or the wall if given an opportunity to do so in order to get fair treatment on green card waiting times,” said Aman Kapoor, co-founder and president of the advocacy body. “This is a winwin (situation) for everybody, it allows President (Donald) Trump to fulfil his campaign promises to build a wall not paid for by American citizens … (and) it would help to grow our economy by allowing highly skilled immigrants to start their own companies and hire American workers,” he said.

There is a new urgency in the effort as Congress and the White House will attempt to reach a deal before February 8 on Trump’s four-pillar immigration proposal — citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought as children, a border wall (estimated to cost $25 billion) and boost border security, ending visa lottery, and chain migration. An amendment is expected to be moved this week to the Immigrants Act that seeks to remove country-wise cap of 7% on green cards — nationals of no single country can get more — that will help clear the backlog.

While people of other nationalities also have to wait for their green card, Indians wait the longest — around 70 years at current rate of disposal. There is sympathy for their plight. The 2017 legislation, for instance, has more than 300 co-sponsors, which should have it breeze through the 435-member House of Representatives. A version of the bill was passed by the House 389-15 in 2011 but it never came up in the senate.