{
  "id": 4864622,
  "title": "Indian Professionals Could Face 179-Year Wait For US Green Card Amid Visa Backlog",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/01/indian-professionals-could-face-179-year-wait-for-us-green-card-amid",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-01T12:40:38.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Press Journal",
    "slug": "free-press-journal",
    "url": "https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/indian-professionals-could-face-179-year-wait-for-us-green-card-amid-visa-backlog"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Indian professionals seeking employment-based green cards in the US might be waiting a staggering 179 years, according to a report by the National Foundation for American Policy. This delay is attributed to a severe backlog in the country's employment visa system. Chinese applicants face a shorter wait of up to 25 years, based on data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The NFAP study examined pending applications in the EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories. Indian applicants are particularly affected due to country-specific visa caps, a large pool of pending applications, and the high demand for skilled professionals in the US. Nearly one million Indians are currently waiting for employment-based immigration as of December 2025. The EB-3 category has the largest share of the backlog, accounting for 30.1%, followed by EB-2 at 22.9% and EB-1 at 16.6%. For new applicants, waiting periods vary significantly by category, with the EB-2 category potentially facing a delay of 179 years, while EB-3 applicants could wait around 38 years, and those in the EB-1 category could face delays of four to five years. This prolonged uncertainty poses challenges for American companies trying to recruit and retain skilled workers and puts considerable pressure on applicants and their families.",
  "summary": "Indian professionals seeking an employment-based green card in the US could face an estimated wait of as long as 179 years, highlighting the severity of the country’s employment visa backlog. Chinese applicants, meanwhile, could face delays of up to 25 years, according to a report from the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), based on data from US Citizenship and Immigration Services.…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}