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Indiana’s economy relies on immigrant workers. But the inefficient administration of current United States immigration policy has made it progressively difficult for businesses and universities to retain the skilled professionals they need.
Widespread delays and backlogs that have long plagued the immigration system continue to grow. Filing fees have risen to high levels without a commensurate improvement in service. These delays jeopardize individuals’ proof of continuing legal status within the U.S. and employment authorization, while prolonging the removal from the U.S. of those without valid claims to remain.
According to data compiled in 2024, immigrants made up 7.9% of Indiana’s 2022 labor force. Immigrants accounted for 13.5% of the state’s STEM workers and 19% of postsecondary teachers.
With respect to petitions for immigrant workers, long processing times are in large part due to backlogs and inefficiencies at the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Most employment-based visa categories require the employer first undergo a test of the U.S. labor market and obtain certification from the labor department that there are insufficient qualified U.S. workers available and willing to perform the work at the occupation’s prevailing wage.
Before 2005, all labor certification applications were filed by paper and backlogs were legion, often processing for a year or more. The labor department promised improvements with the adoption of an electronic system and estimated a decision in 45 to 60 days. Over time, backlogs have returned to pre-2005 levels.
The current processing times are astronomical compared to the labor department’s 2005 estimate: cases adjudicated in September 2024 were pending for an average of 428 days. This is after waiting 5-8 months for a prevailing wage determination from the labor department and the 3-month recruitment process that serves to test the labor market. Processing can take even longer if the application is audited.
The long wait for labor certification compounds the notorious delays at the immigration services that follow. Unlike the labor department, the immigration services still uses a paper filing system for many applications.
Immigration services has made premium processing available for certain employment-based applications to address backlogs. For additional fees, the case is adjudicated on an expedited basis, or the fee is returned if action is not taken within the premium time period.
The fees have more than doubled for many visa categories since the service was first offered without any improvement to the processing time. Premium processing originally promised adjudication within 15 calendar days. Today, premium processing time periods range from 15 to 45 business days.
Immigrants are an integral part of our state’s economy, but Indiana’s employers, employees and their families are at the mercy of an increasingly arcane and inefficient immigration system.
The reasons for the breakdown in processing employment-based petitions and their proposed solutions are myriad. Many point to understaffing and immigration services’s need to embrace technology.
Some believe the labor certification test is antiquated or requires analysis in greater detail than necessary or intended by Congress. Others suggest expanding the list of occupations exempt from labor certification, increasing the number of visas available annually, or adjusting how workers’ families are counted against the annual quota.
Whatever your stance on immigration policy, there can be little doubt that the current system is dysfunctional. It is critically important that the federal government invest in building a more efficient and resilient system of immigration.
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Kristen Hahn is an associate at Stoll Keenon Ogden. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
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