Waiting time for employer-sponsored green cards rises
2 min read
The processing time for employer-sponsored green cards has crossed the three-year wait time in 2022, revealed TOI.
However, paying an amount of $2,500 could lessen the delay by at least seven months, bringing it down to 2 years and 5 months.
“Paying a $2,500 fee could cut this wait to “only” 2 years and 5 months. The government has added almost 16 months to the average green card process. Beginning around 2016, with over a year added in alone”. TOI cited David J Bier, associate director of immigration studies at Cato Institute, as saying.
Employer-Sponsored Green Cards
Employers can opt to pay a $2,500 fee, compared to the $700 regular processing fee, to get a reaction in 15 days. The standard processing time in 2016 was reduced to 1.6 years. From 1.9 years sooner, given that the individual pays a premium fee of $2,500.
Bier said these processing delays come on top of the time to wait for a green card cap slot. To become available under the annual limits (which can be numerous years).
The employer-sponsored immigrants go through six stages including a prefiling stage. That requires the candidate and employer to give documents to prove their eligibility for a green card. This is followed by the Department of Labor evaluating prevailing wages, skill level, and area code. In the case of wage determination, the wait time has gone up three-fold to 182 days in 2022, from 76 out in 2016.
[Effect of Travel While in H1B / L-1 Status and Pending I-485]
Bier said the process is leading to huge processing backlogs in the employer-sponsored immigration system. “Once more, these processing backlogs are in addition to the backlog of workers waiting for a cap spot to become available,” he said.
This could influence America’s performance in the worldwide competition for talent. Since different nations grant green cards in a matter of a few weeks or months, not years, said Bier.
