Qualified Brazilians are among those benefiting from new U.S. immigration guidances.
2022 has been a decisive year for thousands of foreign citizens who dream of living and working legally in the United States. The number of new permanent residents had already reached 402,000 in the first semester, more than half of what was reported in the entire year of 2021 when 720,000 green cards were issued. If the growth stills at this rate, 2022 will overcome 2016 as the year registering more new immigrants in history: 1,183,505 people.
The main reason behind this increase in green cards was the resume of all operations of the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services)after nearly two years of delays and paralyzing due to the pandemic and restrictive policies.
In addition, the current administration has been increasingly trying to encourage the arrival of skilled immigrants through the EB (Employment-Based) immigration categories to attract talented foreign professionals to work in the U.S. Annually, about 140,000 green cards for this category usually becomes available, but in 2022 this number is expected to rise to 300,000.
“There is a shortage of qualified professionals in various segments in the U.S., including in vital sectors such as technology, science, engineering, and healthcare. Biden’s administration has been under pressure to solve this problem by facilitating immigration procedures so that more qualified people can join the U.S. labor market and convinced the U.S. Congress to increase the annual quota of green cards,” reported Marcelo Gondim an immigration lawyer and chairman at Gondim Law Corp.
The new U.S. immigration policy is of great interest to Brazil, traditionally one of the countries that most “export” workforce to the U.S. According to USCIS, 2019 was the year with the most green cards issued to Brazilians: 19,825,000. Also, according to the immigration agency, more than 132,000 Brazilians have received the right to legal residency in America during the last decade. According to Itamaraty, approximately 1,400,000 Brazilians currently reside in the United States.
“One of the main differentials of Brazilian immigrants today is that, in general, they are more qualified than in the past. Most of our Brazil clients who seek immigration legal services today are entrepreneurs, doctors, dentists, engineers, architects, etc. There was a big change in the profile of the Brazilian who seeks green cards nowadays compared to other decades in which there was a strong trend towards illegal immigration”, noted Marcelo Gondim.
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