I have had a lot of people ask me about the report from the Cato Institute that claimed a wait time for India EB2 of 150 years. Review the report here. I disagree with the conclusion. The data came from the USCIS and the DOS so let’s assume that the data is accurate. The error I see is in counting each petition as a separate person in need of immigration. For example, a common occurrence is an H-1b worker with a spouse who is also an H-1b worker and both may have I-140’s approved for them and lets say they have 1.5 non USC children; the conclusion based upon the immigrant petition count only would be for 7 people when in reality, it is only 3.5. A second common occurrence is the person who has multiple I-140’s approved because he has changed employers. A third common occurrence is a person who has multiple I-140’s approved for the same employer who has changed positions in a material way such that a new I-140 is required. A fourth common occurrence involves corporate acquisitions or name changes which often require new I-140 approvals. A fifth common occurrence is the person who has an EB3 approved but, then subsequently upgrades to EB2 and has petitions approved under both categories. Today, I happened to work on an I-140 for a client who has 2 prior I-140’s for former employers. He has a spouse who has an I-140 approved under EB3 and one approved under EB2; and, again using the 1.5 non USC children for purposes of calculation, under the formula used to arrive at the 150 year wait time, my factual scenario would account for 17.5 visas yet, in reality, there are only 3.5 people that will ultimately need to immigrate. The conclusion of the article which is that the wait times are horrible and retrogression needs attention is accurate however, the length of time is off.
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