Nearly one million Indians are waiting for US employment-based green cards, accounting for 79% of the estimated 1.26 million people in the backlog, according to a National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) analysis.
An Indian professional whose labour certification application or employment-based immigrant petition was filed in January 2026 or later could face a potential wait of 179 years in the EB-2 category and 38 years in EB-3, the analysis said. The potential wait in EB-1 is estimated at four to five years.
