US lawmakers have introduced The Dignity Act, which proposes to offer a fast-track option to non-immigrants to be eligible for Green Cards and get a lawful permanent resident status. If the proposal goes through, the wait for the US green card may be shortened.
Green card holders have a legal status to live and work in the USA. However, getting a US green card is a time-consuming process, and nationals of some countries, such as India, have a wait time of over 100 years.
Depending on the kind of green card one is looking for and where they are applying from, the processing period can range from a few months to several years.
Fast-Track Option for Green Card
The Dignity Act proposes to allow individuals who have been waiting 10 years or more in the legal immigration line to pay a premium processing fee of $50,000 (Rs 44 lakh) to move up in the line.
The Act also proposes to double the per-country cap set in the Immigration Act of 1990, from 7% to 15%. This will reduce backlogs from larger countries like India.
Currently, for the fiscal year 2025, the limit for family-sponsored preference immigrants determined by Section 201 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is 226,000.
The worldwide level for annual employment-based preference immigrants is at least 140,000.
Section 202 prescribes that the per-country limit for preference immigrants is set at 7% of the total annual family-sponsored and employment-based preference limits, i.e., 25,620. The dependent area limit is set at 2%, or 7,320.
Th Act also proposes to prevent children legally present in the U.S. from aging out of receiving certain visas due to USCIS processing delays.
USCIS reveals a sharp slowdown in case processing and a historic spike in backlogs during the second quarter of fiscal year 2025 (January–March).
Immigration Backlogs
USCIS completed just 2.7 million immigration cases in Q2 FY2025, an 18% drop from the same quarter last year and a 12% decline from the previous quarter.
The reduced number has coincided with a surge in pending cases, which jumped by 1.6 million during the quarter. The total number of pending applications now stands at a record-breaking 11.3 million, the highest level in over a decade. Adding to the agency’s workload, more than 34,000 new cases remained unopened at the end of Q2.
The DIGNITY Act of 2025 has been introduced by Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar and Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, along with a group of 20 members.
One of the other key provisions of the Act is to introduce a Dignity Program, a 7-year earned legal status program allowing undocumented immigrants to live and work legally, with renewable status based on good conduct and restitution.