The United States’ Employment-Based Immigration System: An Analysis of H-1B Worker Backlogs, Policy Shortcomings, and Reform Pathways
The U.S. employment-based immigration system leaves over 1.8 million skilled workers and their families in long-term legal limbo due to outdated limits set in 1990, including a 140,000 annual cap and a rigid per-country quota that causes extreme backlogs, especially for Indian applicants. These constraints depress wages, limit job mobility, waste skilled labor from dependents, and place children at risk of losing legal status. This paper shows that eliminating per-country caps, expanding visa numbers, exempting dependents, and recapturing unused visas would reduce inequities and better align immigration policy with current labor market needs.
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