Green Cards for Nationals of India and China Become More Unavailable
Tuesday, September 11th, 2012We have heard much about needing to attract the world’s best and brightest talent. Unfortunately, U.S. law does not help to attract those individuals. The employment-based second preference category represents persons who qualify for a position requiring an advanced degree. Much of the world’s talent in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (“STEM”) come from nationals of India and China educated here in the U.S. Unfortunately, the wait for a green card for nationals of India and China has become even longer.
Last year, the EB-2 numbers for China and India jumped ahead 3 months between September and October. This year, after being unavailable all summer long, the EB-2 category for China opens the new year over 2 years behind what the numbers were last April. Worse yet, EB-2 India retrogresses 5 years behind what the numbers were last April. Cut-off dates for India is 9/1/04 and China is 7/15/07, according to the DOS Visa Bulletin for October 2012.
