US Green Card wait for Indians hits 179 years as backlog tops 1.2 million

India’s highly skilled professionals who want to apply for employment-based permanent residency or Green Card in the US may have to wait for an estimated 179 years, according to a recent assessment by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP). Indian candidates face the longest delays in the American immigration system of any group, according to research, due to the annual caps and strict country-specific limits.Visa category comparisons: India vs ChinaIt also noted that as of December 2025 the employment-based immigration backlog has grown past 1.2 million applicants. Almost 1 million of these applicants are from India. This means Indian workers and their families make up 79% of the entire pending employment-based backlog.The NFAP analysis demonstrates how nationality quotas place a vastly heavier burden on Indian workers when compared to applicants from other nations, including China and the Philippines.