US Midterm Elections: Impact on H-1B Visas and Employment-Based Green Cards for Indians

Will the Democrats’ victory in the US midterms make it easier for Indians to obtain H-1B visas or employment-based green cards? The party’s return to power in both chambers of Congress could open the door to renewed scrutiny of President Donald Trump ’s restrictive immigration policies and attempts to address the lengthy green-card backlog facing Indian professionals. However, visa processing and immigration enforcement remain largely under the Trump administration’s control, while major changes to green-card limits would require legislation. Here’s what the results mean for Indian applicants, and what they should watch out for. Before understanding the impact of the results, one must note that there are two different issues on hand: the H-1B programme and the employment-based green card. Ever since the beginning of Trump’s second term, the H-1B programme has come under heightened scrutiny in the US amid a wider debate among its critics over whether it is being used for its original purpose — allowing companies to fill specialised jobs for which sufficiently skilled American workers are unavailable — or as a route to access cheaper foreign labour. In September 2025, Trump had imposed a $100,000 fee on H-1B visa applications through a presidential directive, using provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allow the US President to restrict the entry of foreigners deemed detrimental to American interests. But a US federal court in June 2026 ruled the provisions cited didn’t clearly authorise the US President to impose such a charge, since the fee functioned as a tax (and not merely an entry restriction) and the US Constitution gives only Congress the power to levy taxes. Although the administration appealed the ruling, the First Circuit Court of Appeals in July refused to pause the lower court’s order even as that appeal proceeded. Barely two months after the June ruling, the Trump administration again proposed an additional $103,265 fee on every H-1B petition subject to the annual visa cap — the amount to be paid by the sponsoring employer at the time of filing, on top of existing H-1B fees. This move, being executed through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sees the DHS invoke its statutory power under Section 286 of the Immigration and Nationality Act to set fees that recover the costs of immigration adjudication and naturalisation services. It also decided to go through the formal rulemaking process — allowing public comments for 30 days, after which the department would consider submissions and issue a final rule — rather than imposing the fee directly by proclamation. For now, the midterm results are unlikely to bring immediate relief to workers waiting for stamping of their H-1B visa or their extensions and petition approvals. Much of the operational process will continue to be controlled by the Trump administration and authorities such as the State Department and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Impact on Indian H-1B applicants aspiring to secure green cards Several Indian professionals in the US remain on H-1B status — a temporary visa — even as they wait for employment-based green cards, which offer permanent residence. A Democratic Party-controlled Congress could, however, yield dividends in terms of creating pressure for reducing the backlog for green card applications. This backlog is owing to statutory limits on employment-based green cards, the countrywise cap, and an unusually high number of Indian applicants in two categories: EB-2 (for advanced degrees or exceptional ability) and EB-3 (for professionals and skilled workers). Since the US can issue only a limited number of such green cards annually and no single country can ordinarily receive more than 7% of the combined employment-based and family-sponsored preference limits, applicants — especially those from India, which is a disproportionately large number — have to wait for a considerable amount of time. If this backlog remains unaddressed, workers would have to depend on H-1B extensions for many years. Reducing this backlog would need reforms such as increasing annual green card limits, removing or modifying the countrywise cap, or exempt certain categories from numerical limits — all of which would require legislation. Although a Democrat-controlled Congress is largely expected to scrutinise the Trump administration’s current restrictive immigration policies, there is no guarantee that reforms relaxing such policies are definitely on the horizon. Congressional committees that decide H-1B, green card policy In terms of legislation affecting H-1B visas and employment-based green cards, there are several key Congressional committees in both Houses that have considerable influence over laws pertaining to immigration and naturalisation. Some of them are as follows: House Committee on the Judiciary: The principal House committee for H-1B and green-card legislation, it has 44 members in the outgoing (119th) Congress. Its current Chair is Jim Jordan, a Republican Representative from Ohio, and its Ranking Member — the most senior legislator from the minority party — is Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland. Both Jordan and Raskin retained their seats in the midterm elections. For immigration policy, the most relevant subcommittee is the Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee, whose Chair is Tom McClintock, a Republican from California, and has Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, as its Ranking Member. Senate Committee on the Judiciary: For proposed immigration laws introduced in the Senate, this 22-member committee is significant. Its current Chair is Chuck Grassley, Republican Senator from Iowa, whereas the Ranking Member is Dick Durbin, the outgoing Democratic Senator from Illinois. Durbin is retiring at the end of his term in 2027 after serving in Congress for 44 years, which includes seven terms in the House and five terms in the Senate. As far as subcommittees go, the Senate Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration is especially important for H-1B and green-card legislation. John Cornyn, the Republican Senator from Texas who chairs this subcommittee, was told to step aside for the 2026 midterms for eventual Republican candidate Ken Paxton, who then lost to Democratic candidate James Talarico. The Ranking Member is Alex Padilla, the Democratic Senator from California. Other committees that can influence immigration policy are the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, which control funding for agencies such as USCIS and DHS and can influence their day-to-day operations. The House and Senate Homeland Security Committees have oversight on DHS and USCIS, but can’t change core statutory limits. Come January 2027, these Senate and House Committees and subcommittees will be reconstituted when the incoming (120th) Congress is sworn in, with new Chairs and Ranking Members to be identified. Such reconstitution, however, doesn’t necessarily mean wholesale changes: Some existing members would be retained, whereas some could be moved to other committees. Incoming appointments to the Chair and Ranking Member position will offer a better indication of where immigration-related reform is headed, as their positions on particular Bills will matter far more than which party they belong to. In the near future, applicants for both H-1B visas and employment-based green cards have little to do but wait and watch out for the monthly Visa Bulletin issued by the US State Department, even as bipartisan support for proposed reforms reducing green-card backlog remains contingent and perhaps distant.