Getting a Green Card (or Permanent Residence Card as its more officially called) is the dream of most of the H1-Bs coming to the USA. Its the ticket to achieving their long term goals. Getting an employment based Green Card is a big deal, there are pit falls everywhere and it takes a inordinately long period to complete all the processing (to get more details on these check out any immigration forum or mailing list).

The European Union has proposals for a Blue Card that

… would provide educated immigrants, including tech professionals, with a two-year, renewable permit to work and reside in an EU member nation. Because the EU aims for a worker’s blue-card application process to take less than three months, the visa would provide a fast track for foreign-born individuals to land jobs in EU member countries.

By contrast, the U.S. green-card process can take anywhere from five to 10 years for an individual to gain permanent residency.

The complete article can be read here.