Photo by Bernd Klutsch on Unsplash

Immigration is often characterized in the news as a political issue — something Democrats are in favor of and Republicans are trying to control. 

But the reality is far more complicated, and the truth of the matter is that immigration shouldn't even be a political issue — it's a human issue. Nevertheless, there are many immigration points upon which the two main political parties of our country disagree on, and a few positions on which they wholeheartedly agree. 

One such position, published by the Bipartisan Policy Center, is that money talks, as the saying goes. And the money involved in this discussion is a reported $3.9 trillion. You read that right, TRILLION.

We've talked extensively about the visa processing backlog that USCIS faces, and almost everyone in the United States agrees that immigration reform at some level is needed. But the study released by the Bipartisan Policy Center specifically focuses on the backlog of green card visas - the employment and family-based petitions that are estimated to have a backlog of 7.6 million visas. 

According to current immigration law, the United States can give out about one million green cards per year, split between employment-based petitions and family-based petitions. As you can imagine, this creates a massive waiting list of people who are waiting for their number to come up for permanent residency. The study that the Bipartisan Policy Center published states that the visa backlog is having a negative financial impact on the U.S. economy — essentially that the U.S. is missing out on the economic opportunity that increasing its green card limit would provide — an economic benefit that the Bipartisan Policy Center estimates would be $3.9 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP) gains over the next 10 years.

Only time will tell if the combined lobbying efforts of economists and immigration advocates will succeed in creating congressional action to expand green card numbers, but it's good to know that it is a subject both Democrats and Republicans can agree on. 

If you have questions about applying for permanent residency, or another immigration petition, please reach out to us at (757) 422-8472, or send us a message on our website. You can also schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys by clicking on this link.