Why Indian Migrants Are Being Denied American Citizenship?

 America has long been considered as a place of fresh chances for people all throughout the globe. Still, millions of immigrants arrive annually and have great difficulties. These difficulties—which all hinder the integration and success of immigrants—are with learning English, finding consistent employment, and handling unfair treatment. Throughout American history, this trend has persisted especially affecting immigrants from non-European countries.

Laws like the Immigration Act of 1924 and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 historically restricted Asians hoping to migrate to the United States. These tight rules began to soften only in the 1960s, but by then many communities had already had challenges with success and assimilation. Like other immigrants, Indian ones are wondering whether America still reflects the nation of opportunities it once did.
Let us first mostly investigate the Green Card backlog problem. Rising thirteen-fold since 1980, the Indian immigrant population in the United States now numbers approximately four million, second only to Mexicans. Attracted to employment in the United States, many Indian immigrants are accomplished professionals ranging from doctors to engineers to IT experts. Still, the challenging and time-consuming procedure of obtaining a green card for permanent residency has become somewhat tedious and taxing.

A starting 1.2 million Indian immigrants await employment-based green cards, a count expected to rise to two million by 2030. Some projections place the clearing of the current backlog taking almost two centuries. Many Indian immigrants could thus never be able to realize their ambition of becoming citizens of the United States or legal permanent residents. Discriminatory immigration policies of the past—best shown by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and later legislation favoring Western and Northern European immigrants over Asians and other groups—cause this backlog problem.

Legislators have put out several ideas in an attempt to solve the backlog problem, however with mixed results. Introduced by President Biden, the US Citizenship Act of 2021 sought to increase the Green Card quota, eradicate the 7% nation cap, and hasten approvals for long-standing applications. Along with other ideas like the CHIRP Act of 2022, which attempted to remove STEM PhD graduates and master's degree holders in vital disciplines from the Green Card quota, partisan opposition has blocked this legislative effort.

Inaction has clear effects, especially in the computer industry where US corporations find it difficult to attract top talent because of obstacles experienced by qualified Indian workers. This backlog has caused some people to choose not to pursue prospects in the United States; this is seen by the 40% drop in Indian graduate students studying science and engineering from 2016 to 2019. At the same time, more Indian students are choosing Canada since its immigration policies are simplified.

Furthermore, considering that Indian immigrants make a sizable share of foreign-born doctors and nurses, the US healthcare sector is struggling with the consequences of the Green Card backlog. Visa renewal issues aggravate the nursing shortage in the United States since Indian immigrants have to wait long for consular appointments in India, therefore preventing their ability to see relatives back home.