A critical bottleneck in the United States immigration system has left almost one million Indian professionals in an agonizing, multi-decade queue for permanent residency. According to a policy brief released by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) on August 26, 2026, Indian applicants now constitute approximately 79% of all individuals awaiting an employment-based Green Card.
Staggering Wait Times for Indian Professionals
The NFAP report highlights a dire situation, particularly for those entering the queue today. An Indian national whose employment-based petition or labor certification was filed in January 2026 or later could face a potential wait of 179 years for permanent residency in the EB-2 category, which is designated for individuals with advanced degrees or exceptional abilities. For those in the EB-3 category, the prospective wait is estimated at 38 years.
As of December 2025, the Indian backlog in the EB-2 category alone stood at 731,566 individuals. The EB-3 backlog held 213,414 applicants, while the EB-1 category for priority workers contained 51,619. Collectively, the total backlog across these three primary employment-based categories for Indian nationals reached 996,599 people.
Structural Barriers and Administrative Delays
This localized crisis is part of a broader national issue. NFAP data indicates that the overall employment-based backlog across EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 surged from 1,048,342 in April 2020 to 1,264,495 by December 2025. Without significant policy changes, the total employment-based queue is projected to exceed two million by 2040.
Two primary structural barriers fuel these mounting delays:
- Annual Visa Cap: Congress capped the annual allocation of employment-based immigrant visas at 140,000 in 1990. This total must cover both principal applicants and their dependent family members.
- Per-Country Limit: Section 202(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act imposes a 7% per-country limit, strictly capping the number of visas available to nationals of any single country, regardless of its population or the volume of applications.
This formula disproportionately affects applicants from high-demand nations like India, China, and the Philippines. Even temporary increases in visa availability, such as the approximately 280,000 additional employment-based Green Cards issued between fiscal years 2020 and 2024 due to unused family-sponsored visas rolling over, have failed to clear the expanding pipeline.
Further compounding the problem are administrative delays. The initial labor certification step (PERM) now takes two to three years. As of August 2026, Department of Labor processing averages included 403 days for analyst review and an additional 290 days for audit review.
Urgent Calls for Legislative Reform
Stuart Anderson, NFAP Executive Director, emphasized the severity of the situation. "These long waiting times for green cards create significant hardships for individuals and their families and undermine the ability of companies to attract and retain talent in America," he stated.
NFAP concludes that administrative streamlining alone cannot resolve the systemic breakdown. Meaningful relief for Indian professionals and others trapped in the backlog will require legislative reforms to expand visa numbers and eliminate the per-country caps, addressing the root causes of these prolonged delays.