‘We Expect Trump Admin To Clear Green Card Backlog On Priority’
Nishant Rai, a software engineer working in the US for 15 years, hopes Donald Trump will keep his word on skilled, legal immigration for a mutually beneficial situation. His views:
I have been part of the regular work force in the US for over 15 years. I permanently settled here in 2013 and applied for a Green Card as early as in 2015. My elder daughter is now 15 and was born in India. My younger daughter was born last year in October and, thankfully, she is now a citizen of America, having escaped the new stand of Trump (on birth right of citizenship to children of immigrants born here). We hope that Trump 2.0 will exclude tax-paying, hard working people like us from this blanket rule as we have been contributing to the prosperity of the country.
Be it Trump or any of his predecessors, nothing revolutionary has been done with regard to the woes of those pursuing a GC (Green Card). Since I settled permanently here, I have seen four Presidents in office but our woes still remain under-addressed despite being on the top priority (promises) of every incumbent government.
If I describe it in figures, only 2,800 Indians are given the GC every year regardless of the number of applications; at present, the applications of October 2012 are under process. So, you could well make out as to when the remaining three (Me, my wife and elder daughter) will get our GC and live proudly as American citizens.
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Due to the slow process of obtaining a GC, we need to get frequent Visa extensions which are costly and uncertain and are also living under a threat of the consequences we might face if at all we lose our present job.
One of the praiseworthy and bold steps taken by Trump from day one is his stand on the illegal migrants who have flooded every nook and corner of the country in the past few years making the lives of the Americans and the peace loving people literally hell. We do not know as to why the previous government was spending so much on them and treating them as state guests providing them with all the amenities and luxuries – just to disturb the lives of others and ruin the country.
I live in Seattle and can quote a live example. We were a few Indian families living peacefully in a locality until some migrants were brought and settled there. As a result, we were forced to shift to another locality hoping and praying for better days and then Trump arrived. Recently, a massive raid was conducted nearby and things are returning back to normal.
Like his strict policies on illegal migrants who are taking a toll on all the resources of the country, Trump, along with his team of Musketeers (including Elon Musk), should genuinely address our (Indians) woes form are a good chunk the entire Diaspora of the US ready to contribute even more for the prosperity and the development of the country.
As told to Rajat Rai
