Indian Americans hold rally for Green Card reform in IT hub of Seattle

The peaceful rally sought to reform the Green Card process that would end the current waiting period which in many cases could be in decades.

WASHINGTON: Several highly skilled Indians with their children held a peaceful rally in the IT hub of Seattle seeking to reform the Green Card process that would end the current waiting period which in many cases could be in decades.

Organised by newly formed GCReforms, the rally participants urged Congressman Adam Smith to request the support of the Senator Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell, to bring the Bill HR 392 to vote and solve the issue.

The HR 392 bill seeks to speed up green-card processing by removing quotas on merit-based green cards. And because its constituents can afford it, the bill sweetens the proposed deal by promising to put an extra USD 4 billion into the federal government's pocket.

They urged lawmakers to remove per country limits.

"Every third Congressman in the House of Representative supports this. Yet the bill is not coming for vote, it's high time the Congress, Senate and White House to work on this issue," said Chitti Babu, member of GCReforms.

Joining their parents were several kids. Many of them shared the stories of legal H-4 children and how they will lose their status at the age of 21.

Sandeep Surana, Director in a Fortune-500 company, spoke on why it is unfair and tends to not equality basis, how they feel insecure when a reorganisation happens in the company and how to save the job, what it takes to be balanced mind even in the worst situations of keeping the same job and role for several years.

Surana said there are 150,000 American born kids who may be displaced if the parents don't get Green Cards and lose a job in next several decades due to a recession.

Among others who spoke at the event included senior Democratic Congressman Adam Smith who has been serving the House of Representatives.

President Donald Trump last month used his first State of the Union address to push for the merit-based immigration system that admits skilled people, a proposal that could benefit technology professionals from countries like India.