The Convoluted Path from H-1B to Permanent Residency: A Primer

This article briefly reviews the origins of the H-1B visa, and discusses its role as one of the primary paths for individuals to immigrate to the U.S. through the employment-based system. There are just 140,000 employment-based visas awarded each year, and visas in the employment categories include visas for spouses and children of the primary visa recipient. The H-1B visa is a three-year temporary visa, and is renewable indefinitely if an employer has sponsored the temporary H-1B worker for a permanent visa. Most employment-based visas (86 percent) are awarded to persons who are here on nonimmigrant visas and are adjusting their status. Most of those are H-1B temporary workers. The author points out the extreme backlogs that have developed for employment-based green cards due to the overall visa cap plus per-country ceilings which greatly disadvantage nationals of certain countries. As of 2019, there were an estimated 800,000 individuals stuck in the backlog for employment green cards, mostly Indian nationals. The extreme waits, and multiple bureaucratic processes that prospective immigrants must navigate, make the process unpredictable for workers and employers. The authors suggest the U.S. could learn much by examining the systems other countries have implemented to streamline their temporary-to-permanent residency processes.

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