US move to benefit thousands of Indians waiting for green cards

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it was increasing the maximum validity period of Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) to 5 years for both initial and renewal EADs for certain non-citizens who must apply for employment authorisation.

Washington : The US has announced it will provide employment authorisation cards to some non-immigrant categories, including those waiting for green cards, for five years, a move that would benefit thousands of Indians living in the country. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it was increasing the maximum validity period of Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) to 5 years for initial and renewal EADs for certain non-citizens who must apply for employment authorisation.

According to a new study, more than 10.5 lakh Indians are in the queue for an employment-based Green Card and 4 lakh of them may die before they receive the much-sought-after legal document of permanent residency in the US. A 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.

The per-country caps are numerical limits on the issuance of green cards to individuals from certain countries. The employment-based Green Card backlog reached a new record of 1.8 million cases this year, according to the study by David J Bier of the Cato Institute, an American libertarian think tank. About 1.1 million of the 1.8 million cases in the backlog are from India (63 per cent). Another nearly 250,000 are from China (14 per cent), it said.

Meanwhile, the non-citizens for whom USCIS increased EAD validity include applicants for asylum or withholding of removal, adjustment of status under INA 245, and suspension of deportation or cancellation of removal, the federal agency said. Increasing the maximum EAD validity period to 5 years is intended to significantly reduce the number of new Forms I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, it receives for renewal EADs over the next several years, contributing to its efforts to reduce associated processing times and backlogs, it said.

However, whether the noncitizen maintains employment authorisation remains dependent on their underlying status, circumstances, and EAD filing category, it said. For example, if an individual received an EAD under the category based on a pending adjustment of status application for the maximum validity period of 5 years, and the adjustment application is then denied, their ancillary employment authorisation may be terminated before the expiration date listed on their EAD, it said.