US presidential advisory panel approves recommendation to recapture unused green cards

Recapturing of unused Green Cards: 

• The US President’s advisory commission has come up with a move that will prove to be beneficial to thousands of Indian-Americans who are waiting for their Green Card. The commission has given a go-ahead to a recommendation that more than 2,30,000 unused green cards for family and employment categories since 1992 be recaptured.

• A Green Card, known officially as a Permanent Resident Card, is a document issued to immigrants to the US as evidence that the bearer has been granted the privilege of residing permanently.
  
  

What does it mean to recapture Green Cards?

• The Green Cards that have been midway lost in bureaucratic delays since 1992 will be recaptured. The move will provide relief to individuals who have been waiting in backlogs.

• Ajay Bhutoria, who is a member of Joe Biden‘s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, said that the recapturing includes processing a portion of these 2,30,000 unused employment-based green cards, every fiscal year in addition to the annual limit of 1,40,000 for this category.

Why is recapturing of Green Card needed?

• According to the report, Bhutoria says that the lack of a Green Card affects the mobility of temporary workers on H-1B visas and limits their contributions to the US economy. Moreover, their children are at risk of surpassing their age out of immigration status when they turn 21.

• If the unused green cards are recaptured, billions of dollars could be added to the US economy, the backlog for families waiting for green cards could be reduced, and unnecessary bureaucratic limitations on legal immigration could be mitigated, Bhutoria said.