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Wait-times, visa queues and uncertainty: the barriers to American legal migration

ABSTRACT Legal permanent residency (LPR) removes the immediate threat of deportation and allows a permanent foothold in America. Yet despite its protections, LPR is an incredibly difficult status to achieve for legal immigrants who are not immediate relatives (spouses, parents or minor children) of American citizens. Within a climate of increased enforcement, immigrants are urged to migrate using legal channels. Yet these channels are often oversubscribed and may span decades depending on visa type or country of origin. Using data from the National visa Center (NVC) and the U.S. Department of State, this manuscript outlines the difficulties of American LPR within its two largest quota capped categories: family reunification and employment. Findings indicate that countries like India, China, Mexico and the Philippines have the longest wait-times in visa queues – averaging between 7 and 23 years. Data also indicate that for the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years, there were over 3.7 million petitions waitlisted in visa queues at U.S. consulates abroad. As such, this manuscript evaluates how the unpredictability of American LPR restricts immigrant pathways to legal integration. It also evaluates how time spent in long visa queues – in part engenders illegal immigration.