Kamal Ghorui
An Indian‑American immigration advocate has said that the reason so many Indians are on H‑1B visas is not by choice, but because of flaws in the United States’ immigration system that make it extremely difficult for them to obtain permanent residency.Sidharth, founder of the Indian‑American Advocacy Council, posted on X that the long waits for Green Cards force many Indians to remain in the H‑1B programme for years. He wrote: “It is not because Indians love being on temporary visas. It is because the Green Card system will not let them leave the temp visa program.”In his post, Sidharth pointed to the way the US allocates Green Cards, saying that Indian people face much longer waits than people from many other countries. “India gets the same quota as Iceland,” he wrote, adding that for Indians, the wait for an EB‑2 Green Card can exceed 134 years, while for citizens of Pakistan and Somalia, it can be less than two years.He said the system treats people with the same job, employer and skills differently based only on their place of birth. “Different birthplace equals different lifetime,” Sidharth wrote. He added that Indians are not “stuck” on H‑1B visas by choice but are “trapped by a system that punishes demand from one country while handing Green Cards freely to others.” Furthermore, he noted the human impact of the backlog, claiming that more than 400,000 Indian applicants will die before they ever receive a Green Card.The comments come as the United States, under the Trump administration, is making several changes to the H‑1B work visa programme that are affecting Indian workers and employers. US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has replaced the traditional random lottery for H‑1B visas with a wage‑based selection system, giving priority to higher-paid and higher-skilled applicants. This change took effect on February 26, 2026, and applies to the 2027 cap season.The annual cap on H‑1B visas remains at 85,000, but the agency has also introduced a substantial $100,000 petition fee for employers seeking H‑1B workers.Meanwhile, many Indian applicants for H‑1B visas have faced long waits for appointments to complete visa‑stamping interviews in India, with some being postponed into 2027. US officials have said the delays stem from enhanced vetting and security measures, and not from discrimination against any nationality.Separately, US immigration experts have noted a sharp drop in H‑1B filings, which they attribute partly to changes such as the high fee. These developments are forcing some Indians working or seeking to work in the United States to explore other visa options or postpone their plans while facing longer waits and new rules.
