Immigration Policy Dashboard · Employment-Based Green Cards · H-4 Dependent Visas

250,000 children face deportation.
Congress has known for 20 years.

Children of H-1B visa holders grew up legally in the United States. When they turn 21, a broken per-country quota system forces them to self-deport — not because of anything they did, but because their parents are stuck in a backlog that can last longer than a human lifetime.

📊 Sources: USCIS · Cato Institute · Niskanen Center · Congress.gov 🗓 Updated: April 2026 ⚖️ Status: H.R.5528 pending — not enacted

250K+

Documented Dreamers at risk of forced departure at age 21

134

Estimated year wait — India EB-2/3 new applicants

Cato Institute, 2023

11.3M

Total pending USCIS cases — record high, Q2 FY2025

7%

Per-country cap — same for every nation regardless of size

0

Bills enacted into law protecting Documented Dreamers

Documented Dreamers by State

Documented Dreamers by State — Estimated H-4 Dependent Concentration

Estimated H-4 dependent visa holders · hover a state for details

Interactive map

Critical 50K+

Severe 20–50K

High 8–20K

Moderate 3–8K

Lower <3K

USCIS H-1B employer data FY2023

Estimates derived from USCIS H-1B employer data FY2023 and American Community Survey · Children at risk ≈ 28% of H-4 dependents ages 10–20 · Official state-level H-4 age breakdowns are not publicly available — these are approximations · See Methods tab for full methodology

Green Card Wait Time by Country of Birth

Employment-Based Green Card Wait Time by Country of Birth

Estimated EB-2 wait in years · countries with no documented backlog default to Low — demand does not exceed the 7% annual cap

Interactive map

Critical 50+ yrs

Severe 20–50 yrs

High 5–20 yrs

Moderate 2–5 yrs

Low <2 yrs

Cato Institute 2023 · State Dept. Visa Bulletins

Sources: Cato Institute 2023 · State Dept. Visa Bulletins · USCIS · Countries not listed default to Low — their demand does not exceed the 7% per-country annual cap

Backlog Analysis

Backlog by EB Category

Pending cases by visa preference category — India vs. others

India

China

All others

EB1: Priority workers (~40K annual cap) · EB2: Advanced degrees (~40K) · EB3: Skilled workers (~40K) · Source: CRS R46291 · Cato Institute 2023

Backlog Growth Over Time

Total employment-based backlog FY2010–FY2025 (thousands of cases)

Total backlog

India share

FY2021 dip reflects COVID-era rollover of unused family-based visas, temporarily raising the annual EB limit from 140K to 262K · Sources: CRS R46291 · Cato Institute · USCIS · Bipartisan Policy Center

What Is the Documented Dreamer Crisis?

The United States has a legal immigration system that was designed decades ago and has not been meaningfully updated since. One of its most significant structural failures affects a group of young people known as "Documented Dreamers" — children who came to the United States legally as dependents of their parents' H-1B work visas, grew up here, attended American schools, and know no other home. When they turn 21, their legal dependent status expires. And because their parents are stuck in a green card backlog that can last longer than a human lifetime, these young people have no automatic path to stay.

Key term — H-4 dependent visa: When a foreign national comes to the U.S. on an H-1B work visa, their spouse and children under 21 receive H-4 dependent visas, allowing them to live and study in the U.S. When a child on an H-4 visa turns 21, their status expires. If their parent's green card application has not been approved by then, they must either leave the country, find their own work visa, or become undocumented.

Why Does the Backlog Exist?

The U.S. issues approximately 140,000 employment-based green cards each year. Federal law caps the number that nationals of any single country can receive at 7% of the annual total, regardless of how many applicants are from that country. This is called the per-country cap.

The problem is that demand is not evenly distributed. India sends a large number of high-skilled workers to the United States. Because the per-country cap treats India (population 1.4 billion) the same as New Zealand (population 5 million), Indian applicants face waits measured in decades. New estimates from the Cato Institute suggest that new EB-2 and EB-3 applicants from India face an expected wait of 134 years — longer than a human lifetime.

Key term — per-country cap: No single country may receive more than 7% of the annual employment-based green card allocation. This rule was designed to ensure diversity in immigration but has had the unintended consequence of creating extreme backlogs for countries with high demand, especially India and China.

Who Are the 250,000?

The 250,000+ figure refers to children currently living in the U.S. on H-4 dependent visas whose parents are in the employment-based green card backlog. Many of these children were brought to the U.S. as infants or toddlers. They have attended American schools their entire lives, speak English as their primary language, and have no meaningful connection to their birth country. When they turn 21, the law treats them the same as any foreign national whose visa has expired.

What Is the Legislative Status?

Multiple bills have been introduced in Congress over the past two decades to address this issue. The most recent is the America's CHILDREN Act of 2025 (H.R.5528 / S.2886), which would permanently protect children of long-term visa holders from aging out of the system. As of April 2026, it has not been brought to a committee markup or floor vote in either chamber.

About this dashboard: This is a civic data project intended to make publicly available immigration data accessible and understandable. All data is drawn from official government sources and reputable policy research institutions. The goal is to translate complex immigration policy into clear, honest visualizations that can inform public understanding and support advocacy efforts.

Green Card Wait Time by Country of Birth

The per-country cap creates vastly different wait times across countries. India — which accounts for 63% of the employment-based backlog — faces an estimated 134-year wait for new EB-2/3 applicants. Most other countries face waits under 2 years, because their demand never reaches the 7% cap.

World Map

Employment-Based Green Card Wait Time by Country of Birth

Estimated EB-2 wait in years · hover any country for details · unlisted countries default to Low

Interactive

Critical 50+ yrs

Severe 20–50 yrs

High 5–20 yrs

Moderate 2–5 yrs

Low <2 yrs

Cato Institute 2023 · State Dept. Visa Bulletins

Sources: Cato Institute 2023 · State Dept. Visa Bulletins · USCIS · Countries not listed default to Low — their demand does not exceed the 7% per-country annual cap

Country Lookup

Backlog Distribution — 1.8M Total EB Cases

Share by country of birth

EB-2 / EB-3

Source: Cato Institute analysis of USCIS data, FY2023 · Total backlog ~1.8 million employment-based cases

Estimated Wait Time by Country

EB-2 category · select a country to see detailed data

Interactive

Select a country above to view estimated wait time data

Estimates: Cato Institute 2023 · USCIS backlog reports · State Dept. Visa Bulletins · Individual cases vary by priority date and visa category · See Methods for full assumptions

Documented Dreamers by State

States with large technology, healthcare, and research sectors have the highest concentrations of H-4 dependent visa holders. California and Texas alone account for an estimated 130,000+ H-4 dependents — over half the national total. These estimates are derived from USCIS H-1B employer data and should be treated as approximations.

State Map

H-4 Dependent Concentration by State

Hover any state for estimated figures · click "By State Data" below for full table

Interactive map

Critical 50K+

Severe 20–50K

High 8–20K

Moderate 3–8K

Lower <3K

USCIS H-1B employer data FY2023

Estimates derived from USCIS H-1B employer data FY2023 and ACS · Children at risk ≈ 28% of H-4 dependents ages 10–20 · Official state-level H-4 age breakdowns are not publicly available

Full State Data Table

State-Level H-4 Dependent Estimates

Sorted by estimated total · search to filter

Estimated data

State	Est. H-4 Dependents	Est. Children at Risk	Key Sectors	Concentration

Derived from USCIS H-1B employer data FY2023 and ACS · Children at risk ≈ 28% of H-4 dependents ages 10–20 · Official state-level H-4 age breakdowns not publicly available — see Methods tab for full methodology and limitations

Policy Reform Simulator

Adjust the per-country green card cap and annual visa allocation to model how different policy changes would affect India's estimated wait time and the number of Documented Dreamers protected. All assumptions are fully documented in the Methods tab.

Adjust Policy Parameters

Drag the sliders to model different reform scenarios — results update in real time

Interactive

Per-country cap 7%

7% (current law)No cap (100%)

Annual EB green cards 140,000

140K (current law)500K

Assumptions: India share of EB backlog = 63% · Baseline India allocation at 7% cap + 140K visas = 9,800/yr · Wait time = backlog ÷ annual allocation · See Methods tab for full methodology

Pre-Set Policy Scenarios

Click any scenario to load it into the simulator above

Legislative History: 20+ Years of Congressional Inaction

Multiple bipartisan bills introduced. Zero enacted. A chronological record.

Congressional Attempts to Protect Documented Dreamers

0 of 4+ enacted

✕

2000–2018 · Multiple Congresses

DREAM Act and Early Age-Out Protection Bills

Repeated legislative attempts across multiple sessions. None reached a final floor vote in both chambers.

Never passed both chambers

✕

2019 · 116th Congress

Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R.1044)

Passed the House 365–65 — among the most bipartisan immigration votes in years. Also addressed per-country caps. Never brought to a Senate floor vote.

Stalled in Senate

✕

2021–2024 · 117th–118th Congress

America's CHILDREN Act (earlier versions)

Bipartisan sponsorship including Senators Padilla (D-CA) and Paul (R-KY). Specifically targeted the H-4 age-out crisis. Never received a committee markup or floor vote.

Died in committee

!

2025–Present · 119th Congress

America's CHILDREN Act of 2025 (H.R.5528 / S.2886)

Reintroduced in both chambers. Would permanently authorize lawful permanent resident status for qualifying children who entered as dependents. Has not been brought to committee markup or floor vote as of April 2026.

Pending — No action taken

Sources: Congress.gov · GovTrack.us · americaschildrenact.com

Insight Posts — Plain-language analysis of what the data means

April 2026 · Insight #1

Why 134 Years Is Not an Exaggeration

When people hear that Indian EB-2 applicants face a 134-year wait for a green card, the first reaction is disbelief. It sounds like a typo. It is not.

The math is straightforward. There are approximately 1.134 million Indian nationals in the employment-based backlog. The annual cap allows roughly 9,800 green cards per year for Indian nationals (7% of 140,000). Divide backlog by annual allocation: 1,134,000 ÷ 9,800 ≈ 116 years for existing applicants. For new applicants today, the queue continues to grow — hence the Cato Institute's 134-year estimate.

To put this in human terms: someone who filed an EB-2 petition from India today would receive their green card sometime around the year 2159. The 250,000+ Documented Dreamers currently in the U.S. on H-4 visas have no realistic expectation that their parents' green cards will arrive before they turn 21.

The 134-year figure is not a projection of what might happen. It is a mathematical description of what is already happening.

April 2026 · Insight #2

The Bipartisan Problem Congress Won't Solve

Immigration is typically one of the most partisan issues in American politics. The Documented Dreamer crisis is unusual: it has attracted genuine bipartisan support for two decades and still produced zero legislation.

The Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act passed the House in 2019 with 365 votes. The America's CHILDREN Act has been co-sponsored by both liberal Democrats and libertarian-leaning Republicans. The policy argument is not particularly contested: children who grew up in the United States should not be deported because their parents are stuck in a bureaucratic queue.

The reason these bills fail has almost nothing to do with the Documented Dreamer issue itself. Immigration bills get attached to larger packages, become bargaining chips in broader legislative fights, or stall because they touch adjacent issues. The result: 250,000 young people live with legal uncertainty, unable to plan their futures, because of paralysis that has nothing to do with them personally.

April 2026 · Insight #3

What the Per-Country Cap Actually Does

The per-country cap is the root cause of the crisis but is often misunderstood. It does not limit immigration from any country — it limits the share of annual green cards that can go to nationals of any single country. It was designed to promote diversity. In practice, it treats countries with wildly different populations identically.

India sends more skilled workers to the United States than almost any other country, driven by its population size, engineering education system, and decades of labor migration patterns. As a result, Indian nationals dominate the employment-based queue — not because they are gaming the system, but because there are simply more of them.

Eliminating or raising the per-country cap would not increase total immigration. It would redistribute the same green cards more equitably, based on how long someone has been waiting rather than where they were born. That is the reform that 20 years of congressional inaction has failed to deliver.

About This Dashboard

This is a civic data project intended to make publicly available immigration data accessible and understandable to students, advocates, researchers, and policymakers. All data comes from official government sources and reputable policy research institutions.

Contact: documenteddreamers@proton.me

Data Sources

Primary Sources

Gov

USCIS Immigration and Citizenship Data — Quarterly backlog reports, I-140 data, H-4 visa issuance. uscis.gov

Gov

State Department Visa Bulletin — Monthly priority date cutoffs by preference category and country. travel.state.gov

Gov

Congress.gov — Full text and status of H.R.5528 and S.2886 and historical legislation.

Secondary Sources

Think Tank

Cato Institute — "1.8 Million in Employment-Based Green Card Backlog" (2023). Source of country distribution and 134-year India wait estimate. cato.org

Think Tank

Niskanen Center — "Legal Immigration in Numbers: March 2026." Source of 11.3M pending cases figure. niskanencenter.org

Advocacy

americaschildrenact.com — Background on the Documented Dreamer population and America's CHILDREN Act legislative history.

Methodology

Wait Time Estimates

Wait times are based on the Cato Institute's 2023 analysis, dividing country-level backlog by annual allocation under the per-country cap. For India EB-2/3, this produces the 134-year estimate. Other country estimates are drawn from Visa Bulletin priority date histories and secondary analyses.

Policy Simulator

India EB backlog: 1,134,000 cases (63% of 1.8M · Cato, 2023)
Baseline annual EB green cards: 140,000 (INA § 203)
India effective allocation at 7% cap: 9,800 visas/year
Wait time formula: India backlog ÷ effective annual India allocation
When cap ≥ India's demand share (63%), India receives full demand share

State-Level Estimates

Derived by applying state-level H-1B employer concentration (USCIS FY2023) to the national H-4 dependent population estimate. Children at risk estimated as 28% of H-4 dependents, representing approximate share of H-4 dependents ages 10–20 based on ACS household composition data.

Limitations

Wait time estimates are approximations. The 134-year figure is derived from a static snapshot. In reality the backlog grows each year. Treat all wait times as order-of-magnitude estimates.

State data is not officially published. USCIS does not release state-level H-4 data by beneficiary age. State estimates are rough approximations derived from H-1B employer data as a proxy.

Data reflects April 2026. USCIS publishes quarterly backlog data. The Visa Bulletin updates monthly. Verify against primary sources for legal or policy purposes.

Changelog

Apr 25, 2026

v1.0 — Launch. Overview with interactive map, By Country (26 countries), By State, Policy Simulator, Legislative Timeline, 3 Insight posts, Methods.

250,000 children face deportation.Congress has known for 20 years.

Green Card Wait Time by Country of Birth

Documented Dreamers by State

Policy Reform Simulator

Legislative History: 20+ Years of Congressional Inaction

250,000 children face deportation.
Congress has known for 20 years.