Jumpstart Bill to expedite green cards

A new bill was introduced in the US Congress to recapture nearly 380,000 unused family and employment-based visas. If the legislation sees the light of the day, it will provide relief to thousands of Indians stuck in a decade long waiting line for green cards due to a 7% per-country cap for all nations big or small. The Jumpstart our Legal Immigration System Act seeks to recapture about 222,000 unused family-sponsored visas and about 157,000 employment-based visas.

The proposed law will also permit individuals who are in the US and eligible for a green card – but for the lack of an available visa number – to apply for their green card upon paying a fee. It also encompasses an estimated 40,000 individuals who were selected for, but did not receive, the diversity visa lottery to reapply for such visas. It seeks to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to prevent the future loss of unused employment-based visas by ensuring that they roll over to the family-based categories as the US Congress intended.