Maher Tamimi has been waiting for six years to apply for the coveted “green card” that would allow him to become a permanent resident of the US. Or rather, his wife has been waiting literally, for she has little else to do.

Mr Tamimi, an Iraqi-born Canadian, works in Dallas as an electrical engineer for SunGard, which handles software and processing for large financial services firms. Since 2002, he has been allowed in the US on the H1-B visa granted to skilled foreign professionals.