The State Department has over 7.6 million green card applications pending, and the United
States Citizenship and Services USCIS has a significant amount of pending visa applications. The
backlog will not be resolved until the congress acts on it. President Biden asked Congress for
$14 billion from the budget request to be allocated to border security and to reduce the
backlog in USCIS. Unfortunately, there has not been a vote yet.
A report published by the Bipartisan Policy Center named “Green Light to Growth,” talks about
the benefits to the U.S. economy if the State Department settled its green card backlog. The
study stated that the “Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would grow by about 3.9 billion dollars in
the next 10 years.” The shortage in the workforce for critical jobs such as healthcare, is a
missed opportunity for the country to strengthen and improve its economy.
The Bipartisan Policy Center pointed out in their report that millions of people are waiting for
permanent resident cards for longer than previously, making it hard for essential positions such
as national security or the healthcare system to be vacant. The report also mentioned that it is
important that restricting the jobs people can occupy while they are working on their
applications can have an economic cost, as well as preventing people outside the United States
from applying for jobs that are in urgent need of more employees. The report concluded by
saying that the most economic benefits come from new immigrants, as well as those
immigrants who are already in the country and go from a temporary immigration status to a
permanent status. Without immediate action in the immigration system, the backlog will
continue to grow as they have for decades.
If you or anyone you know would benefit from a green card, please contact Pikes Peak
Immigration to schedule a consultation today 719-602-4477.