The wait for a green card gets longer
Green card applicants (including myself) have received bad news regarding their quest to become a permanant resident of the US. The US Department of State (DOS) has announced much longer waits for green-card applicants.
Some background information: my application to get a green-card involves two steps: 1) Apply for labour certification in the United States. 2) Apply for permanent residence. When I reach step 2 there must be an available immigrant visa number for my category. In any given year a country may use up to 7% of the available immigrant visas. Currently there are 140000 employment based GCs available a year. So Canada gets at max 9800 of them. This number includes family of those who come in on the same application.
Monthly, the government sets a cutoff date for each employment category. If you have applied for your labour certification before this date than you can get in line for a Green Card. Otherwise, you have to wait until this date is moved up to your priority date. The date can move forward or be retrogressed at any given time based on the number of expected applicants for GCs.
My situation is not immediately affected. I am currently on a visa which allows me to work in the United States temporarily while I apply for a GC. Eventually this will run-out but by then hopefully things will have changed for the better... or I can apply for an extension. I hope after the next presidential elections things will be a little better. The Bush administration will probably not increase the number of immigrant visas right before the election. Meanwhile, large companies are trying to get a bill passed which will have the 140000 limit not include the family members of incoming workers.
This is an informative article which explains the DOS's announcement and how it is affecting people waiting for their green-cards. The biggest issue is that family members of employees on temporary visas are not allowed to work in the US.
Some background information: my application to get a green-card involves two steps: 1) Apply for labour certification in the United States. 2) Apply for permanent residence. When I reach step 2 there must be an available immigrant visa number for my category. In any given year a country may use up to 7% of the available immigrant visas. Currently there are 140000 employment based GCs available a year. So Canada gets at max 9800 of them. This number includes family of those who come in on the same application.
Monthly, the government sets a cutoff date for each employment category. If you have applied for your labour certification before this date than you can get in line for a Green Card. Otherwise, you have to wait until this date is moved up to your priority date. The date can move forward or be retrogressed at any given time based on the number of expected applicants for GCs.
My situation is not immediately affected. I am currently on a visa which allows me to work in the United States temporarily while I apply for a GC. Eventually this will run-out but by then hopefully things will have changed for the better... or I can apply for an extension. I hope after the next presidential elections things will be a little better. The Bush administration will probably not increase the number of immigrant visas right before the election. Meanwhile, large companies are trying to get a bill passed which will have the 140000 limit not include the family members of incoming workers.
This is an informative article which explains the DOS's announcement and how it is affecting people waiting for their green-cards. The biggest issue is that family members of employees on temporary visas are not allowed to work in the US.
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1 Comments:
that's whack. maybe it's a dark plot by the government to force us good looking, smart, funny, good beer drinking canadians to marry american girls and up the ante on the yankee gene pool??
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