This Is What Waiting for an Employment-Based Green Card Looks Like
August 2015 marked the start of my nineteenth year as a legal resident in the United States. I went to school for six of those years and have worked legally in the country for more than twelve years. I’ve helped build a company that has improved access to high quality, affordable healthcare for hundreds of thousands of Americans. I’ve helped create jobs on U.S. soil. I’ve helped modernize inpatient care for a health system that is world-renowned for its quality of care. Now, I lead pioneering work that enables healthcare providers to deliver care that focuses on prevention — something the U.S. healthcare system needs to reduce costs. But I’m still waiting for freedom — the freedom that only a green card can provide.
When people ask me how much longer I have to wait for a green card, I have this graphic ready to show them. This is what the “line” in the employment-based legal immigration system looks like. Depending on the month, my expected wait time for a green card could be two months — or six years.
As an analogy, imagine sitting at the DMV, waiting for your number to show up on the monitor. Let’s say your number is 100. The monitor shows 99, but then jumps back to 10. That would be frustrating right? That’s how the employment-based immigration “line” behaves. I guarantee you that if the line at the DMV…
