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The report stated that Indian professionals are projected to face the longest delays due to visa backlogs and statutory limits imposed on the number of green cards issued each year.

The analysis, published by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), highlights that nearly 1 million people from India are stuck in the employment-based immigration backlog, which makes up 79 per cent of the total green card stockpile as of December 2025.

The report states that nationality-based green cards disproportionately affect Indian nationals compared to Chinese and Philippine nationals.

The report estimates that a highly skilled worker from India with a labour certification application or employment-based immigrant petition filed in January 2026 could face a potential wait of 4 to 5 years for EB-1, 179 years for EB-2, and 38 years for EB-3 visa categories.

However, the NFAP estimates that for Chinese nationals who are applying for the same employment-based visa categories, the wait time would be 5 years for EB-1, 25 years for EB-2, and 7 years for EB-3.

Among the causes of the massive employment-based visa backlog, the think tank states that a cap of 140,000 is “too low for the number of skilled foreign nationals employers sponsor for permanent residence.”

Close to 140,000 green cards are available annually, and the limit was set by the US Congress in 1990, which includes both the principal and dependent family members. NFAP states that the second factor leading to a surge in the green card logjam is the per-country limit. As per US law, India and China are allotted the same number of green cards as Iceland and Luxembourg.

However, a spokesperson for the US State Department has said that it is common for the employment-based visas to reach their annual limits for certain visa categories and nationalities before the end of the fiscal year, Newsweek reported. The department added that it routinely notifies on the website when annual limits have been reached.

According to US government data on visa backlog, in FY 2016, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) approved 47,601 applications under the EB-2 category for Indians, which translates into an estimated 98,594 people once dependents are included. However, the NFAP report shows that only 4,407 people from India were granted permanent residence in the EB-2 category in FY 2016.

The data shows that in FY 2016 alone, more than 90,000 people (principals and dependents) were likely added to the backlog. The trend continued in 2017 and 2018 as well.