Infinite green card line

It's based on country of birth, not citizenship

Its based on country of birth. Also things weren't the same as it is today

With PhD you can get a green card within a year regardless of country of birth

That's changing now, with the recent visa bulletin

Well, the question still remains why people would necessarily want to stay in the US but not in EU/Canada/Australia?

Country of birth

It’s the country of birth, not citizenship. This system is adapted from 1925 national quota formula system which ranks races and ethnicities according to how desirable they are. Since there was no genetic test and birthplace is a better indicator for race and ethnicity, USCIS uses birthplace instead of citizenship for national quota since 1925.

‘Why ppl come here then’: 1. Ppl who come here as students first and then get a job won’t think all that before coming. Lack of visibility and ignorance is bliss phenomenon plays a role there. It’s like everyone who goes there kinda does well impression. 2. Point 1 was kind of right till around 2010 as the wait times for Indians was not so bad then. In fact in 2013 priority date had come till 2009 and I know ppl who have got greencard with only 5 yrs wait. 3. Nowadays smarter ppl think why US and some ppl stay away and do well in India. I have also known some ppl come here as students and gain a few yrs of experience and plan the exit from US well. 4. there are some super dumb ppl who are here until they have a job and don’t care. These ppl would generally never care for career or anything and be like whatever happens to many will happen to me. 5. Then, there are ppl who are between the ones mentioned in point 3 and point 4, who have realized that mistake they made as mentioned in point 1. These ppl generally crib, try to lobby for a change, stay unhappy or finally move out of US when they realize enough is enough. And note, 90% of US immigration (greencard) is non-employment based immigration. There are soooooo many more who are ready to come here even without a job, typically with an economic status not as good as someone who comes here on job. So however bad is US immigration policy, there will be ppl coming. But the quality of ppl coming into US reduces with bad immigration policy.

You can always accept American culture and marry an American or someone that has a different country of origin that’s on a visa that is adjustment of status eligible and can take advantage of the “cross chargeability.”

May be it’s easy to manage in USA then non English speaking countries