Foreign tech workers in decades long green card queue offer to pay for Mexico Border Wall

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Mexico refuses to pay for President Donald Trump’s wall, but advocates representing another group of foreign workers legally in the U.S. say they would eagerly raise billions for the barrier if it’d help them get green cards faster.

Who? Under the proposal, Indian and Chinese tech workers would step up and kick in $2,500 each or more in fees if it meant they could get their green cards after five or six years instead of waiting decades as some do now.

“The Indian high-skilled workers will gladly, enthusiastically and happily pay for the wall if given an opportunity to do so in order to get fair treatment on green card waiting times,” said Leon Fresco, an attorney for Immigration Voice, an advocacy group working with members of Congress on the measure.

The offer comes as a bipartisan group of Congress members is pressing the White House and members of Congress on a new proposal that would help raise $4 billion toward payment of the $25 billion border wall and security package in a deal to protect so-called Dreamers who were brought to the country illegally as children.

Indian and Chinese workers make up a large chunk of the green card applicants in the United States, far exceeding the per country annual cap on permanent residency approvals. As a result, there is a significant backlog for the much-coveted residency permits.

More than 1 million Indian and Chinese nationals who arrived on H-1B tech worker visas are awaiting green cards, according to Congressional estimates. In fact, the wait to get a green card for some Indian applicants can stretch upwards of 70 years, according to those estimates.

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