Jeremy McKinney, president at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, stated issuing 280,000-plus employment-based immigrant visas is quite a feat, something that was only possible because of staff and leadership working overtime to process applications efficiently. “This is double the number of visas normally issued in a year and truly a remarkable effort by agencies that have faced many hurdles in years past.”
This is no small accomplishment considering that more over 65,000 employment-based green cards were not used in 2021. Many immigration lawyers are warning that because the issuance procedure is out of order, people who applied first may not always stand to gain.
Immigration lawyer Greg Siskind tweeted that it was against the law and USCIS policy for the agency to choose the cases that would be the simplest to decide rather than adjudicate them in order of difficulty. Shortcuts to bypass a judge's decision on whether reserving immigrant visas is legitimate will be met with opposition.
The latest issuance of the visa bulletin was a great disappointment to the Indian diaspora in light of the measures taken by USCIS to prevent wastage of employment-based green cards this fiscal.
There is a two-and-a-half-year retrogression for Indians in the EB-2 category (those with advanced degrees) to April 1, 2012. The monthly visa bulletin specifies when a foreign citizen residing in the US can complete the process of applying for an adjustment of status and obtaining a green card.
"What this remarkable effort has also revealed is that Congress needs to fund the essential work of both agencies through appropriations," continued Sharvari Dalal-Dheini, director of government relations at AILA. Normally, USCIS and DOS work is fee-based, but given the significant backlog created by the previous administration and the effects of pandemic restrictions, Congress needs to keep the purse strings open to make sure the organisations are able to quickly and effectively process all those people who are still waiting for employment, family, and diverse immigrant visas. It will only help our nation's recovery from the pandemic if we do this.
“Despite the herculean effort, we must recognise that many individuals who had hoped to get their immigrant visas this year are now faced with visa retrogression and others, particularly those in the family backlog, have seen delays get even worse. As such, we must continue to push Congress to reform the immigrant visa system to ensure visas are not lost, children do not age out, our country’s employment needs are met and we can keep families together,” she added.
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