If you are an immigrant and would like to start your journey to obtaining full United States citizenship, you should consider obtaining a green card first. A green card is an identifying document that shows you (the holder) as a permanent resident of the United States. Holders of green cards are not American citizens, but they can work and live here indefinitely. However, you must establish your eligibility for a green card before beginning the application process. Luckily, the immigration department provides several qualifying criteria for those interested in becoming permanent residents. The help of a competent immigration attorney could go a long way in ensuring that your application is a success.
Green Card Applications— Overview
The United States is among countries where people from across the globe want to work and live. It provides many opportunities that other countries lack, including employment opportunities, equality for all, and respect for human rights. Thus, you are right to want to become a permanent resident of this wonderful country. Sadly, only immigrants with proper documents are allowed into the country. You could be deported or marked inadmissible if immigration authorities find you living or sneaking into the country illegally.
Fortunately, the country offers green cards to immigrants who want to work and live in the country without worrying about their immigration status. A green card is a document that allows you to work and live in any state within the country freely. It also enables you to switch jobs at will or live without working. You can shift from one state to the other with minimal restrictions. Green cards are also your final step in obtaining American citizenship. Therefore, you have every reason to apply for one today.
The holders of U.S green cards can apply to become citizens after a five-year stay. As a citizen, you will enjoy equal rights with other citizens, including freedom of speech and expression, the right to a fair trial, and the right to live permanently and be protected by U.S laws.
Holders of green cards can also sponsor their relatives for green cards and visas. After migrating to America, you do not have to live separately with your close family. You can facilitate their travel to join you in your new area of residence.
A green card enables you to travel out of the country and back quickly. Immigrants are not always sure that they will be allowed back if they leave. That makes travel impossible, especially if a person wants to remain in America for the sake of their work, family, and other privileges. The worry of not being allowed back ends with obtaining permanent residency.
A green card will give you access to subsidized services in various sectors like education. It gives you eligibility for local education, meaning that you will be paying less for university, college, and vocational school than you would if you did not have the document.
The best part is that you can renew it after every ten years to continue enjoying these and more privileges.
But how does a person qualify for a green card?
This is a question we should be answering in this blog. It will open your eyes to several avenues that could bring you closer to your dream of becoming an American citizen.
Qualifying for a Green Card
The immigration law provides many ways to qualify for permanent residency. You must fit in at least one of the listed categories to apply for permanent residence. However, the list is not exhaustive. Thus you should not make a definitive decision based on it. It is advisable to work alongside an experienced immigration attorney for better decision-making. Your attorney will analyze your situation to give you options and guidance through the process. Here is the list of people that could be eligible for a green card according to the immigration law:
Immediate Family of an American Citizen
Top on the list of those who qualify for American green cards is citizens' immediate family members. Thus, you can file and expect a quicker response if you have a close family living in the country. In this case, immediate family members include the following people:
- People whose spouses are American citizens — including widows and widowers who recently lost their spouses and same-sex partners. The only requirement is that your marriage must be legally valid in the United States or the country where the wedding occurred.
- Unmarried children of below 21 years whose at least one parent is an American citizen
- Parents whose 21 years or older child is an American citizen
- Stepparents and stepchildren of U.S citizens. But, the marriage that makes you a stepchild must have taken place before you attained your 18th birthday.
- A child adopted by an American citizen or permanent resident — however, the adoption must have taken place before you (the adopted child) achieved the age of 16. Ensure you understand and meet all the other conditions for adopted children when applying for a green card.
The country’s immigration law provides several green cards for immediate family members of U.S citizens and permanent residents. Applicants must meet specific conditions provided for each of those green cards. If your paperwork is done well and you have gone through the process successfully, your green card will be out in no time.
Note that this provision does not extend to extended family members, including grandparents, uncles, aunts, and parents-in-law.
Additionally, if any of the listed people are allowed into the U.S as permanent residents, they can bring their spouses and children. Once you obtain a green card, you will sponsor people on this list.
Other Family Members of a U.S Permanent Resident or Citizen
Other than immediate family members, specific, close family members of a United States citizen or permanent resident could qualify for a green card, though not right away. Other family members fall into preference categories from which only a specific number of applications must be received every year. Thus, the system allows applicants on a first-come, first-served basis.
If you wish to obtain a green card under this category, your sponsor is expected to file a Form 1-130 soon after the opportunity is open. That will enable you to obtain a green card based on the priority date. But, it is impossible to predict these applications' outcomes or wait times. The length of your wait time will depend on the category of visa you are seeking and your country of origin. Sometimes the number of applicants in your country could delay the process and the workload of agencies working on these applications. Some applicants are lucky to receive a response from the immigration department shortly after sending their application, while the others could wait for up to 20 years. Spouses and children will likely receive their application response quicker than other family members because they are priority applicants.
Here are the main preferences of applicants under this category:
- F1 applicants or family first preference — They comprise unmarried adults that are 21 years or older, whose parent is a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S
- F2A applicants or family second preference — They comprise the spouses and unwed children of a U.S permanent resident, provided the children are not older than 21. F2B applicants are the unwed children of a U.S permanent resident that are 21 years of age or below
- F3 applicants or family third preference — Are the married applicants of any age, who have at least one parent and are an American citizen.
- F4 applicants or family fourth preference — Are the brothers and sisters of a citizen. The citizen must be 21 years or older.
Preferred Workers and Employees
Every year, the U.S immigration department issues out 140,000 green cards for people who have skills needed in the United States markets. Sometimes a job offer is necessary to apply for this green card. The U.S employer must prove that they could not find the right skills for that particular job within the country. Employers must at least advertise an open vacancy and recruit before offering a job to an immigrant. If indeed an employer could not find anyone able, willing and qualified to take up the job, they are free to source for skills out of the country.
Since this category of green card applicants has an annual limit, it is a preference category. Thus, applicants could wait for years before obtaining a green card. We have several subcategories of green card applicants under the preferred workers and employees category. They are:
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First Preference
These are the priority workers and could include people with excellent sciences, education, arts, athletics, and business skills. This category also includes outstanding researchers, professors, executive managers for multinational companies.
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Second Preference
This category includes professional employees and workers with exceptional abilities and advanced degrees.
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Third Preference
They include other professionals, skills, and unskilled workers.
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Fourth Preference
They are the religious workers and other miscellaneous workers, including special immigrants.
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Fifth Preference
They are the investors that would be willing to invest a minimum of $1 million in a U.S-based business, or at least $0.5 million if the company is in an economically-unstable area. The said business must have the potential to hire at least ten employees.
Diversity Green Card Lotteries
Several other green cards are available for applicants from various countries, mainly those that have registered the fewest immigrants in recent years. Currently, the U.S immigration department offers 50,000 green cards for this category of applicants. If you wish to send an application under this category, you can enter the lottery. But you must meet the specific requirements provided by the U.S Immigration Department.
Winners of the Diversity green card lottery are chosen through a random draw. The 50,000 green cards are divided equally into the qualifying regions such that each receives at least 7% of the available opportunities. If a person qualifies in that lottery and manages to go through the process, they are allowed to bring their spouse and children along, provided the children are unmarried and below the age of 21.
On top of qualifying for the diversity lottery, applicants from eligible countries should have one of the following:
- A high school qualification or its equivalent — You must prove that you have undergone 12 years of school and acquired both elementary and secondary education
- At least two years of experience in a job that requires a minimum of two years of training or experience —The job experience must be within the last five years.
Note that you do not need a job offer to qualify for this type of green card. However, lottery winners should prove they will be able to financially-support themselves and their families while in the country.
Special Immigrants
Sometimes the United States makes new laws allowing the issuance of green cards to people in specific situations like retired workers of the U.S government living abroad, international broadcasters, and juveniles placed under the care of juvenile courts. You must qualify under the specific category allowed green cards at a given time to apply for one as a special immigrant.
You cannot tell who a special immigrant is simply by looking at the name. Lawmakers created this special category of green card applicants for all other special visas that do not fit in any of the above-listed categories. The U.S has a limited number of applications it receives for green cards under this category every year. Currently, only 10,000 applications are allowed for all exceptional cases.
Special immigrants into the United States are issued with an EB-4 visa. These visas lead to legal permanent resident status and issuance of a green card upon the applicant’s arrival into the U.S. here are specific categories of people that could qualify for this type of green card:
- Clergy, and vocational and religious workers, for bona fide and non-profit religious organizations
- Foreign employees that provide faithful services to the United States government
- Foreign medical graduates who entered the country as nonimmigrants before 1978, who also remained in the country and continued to practice their studies
- Retired employees and officers of specific international organizations who have stayed in the country for a considerable length of time
People Seeking Refuge or Asylum
The country’s immigration law allows refuge for people experiencing fear or persecution in their country. The person will apply to become a refugee if they are still living in their country. But if the person is already in the country or at the border, they will apply for asylum.
Applications from those experiencing persecution are only allowed on specific grounds. For instance, the person must face persecution because of their race or ethnicity, political opinion, nationality, religion, or member of a distinct social group. People applying for a green card to run away from random violence or poverty will not qualify for a green card under this category.
A year after applying for refugee or asylum status, you are allowed to file your application to adjust your immigration status. That could qualify you for a green card.
Long-Term U.S Residents
People who have lived in the United States for a long time can apply for permanent residency. You must have lived illegally in the country for ten years or more to obtain a green card under this category. However, this application is not as straightforward as the others. You must appear before an immigration court to defend your stay in the country using permanent residency as a defense. The process involves canceling your removal from the country as an illegal immigrant.
You must also demonstrate that your immediate family members (spouse and children), who must be permanent residents or citizens, will be significantly affected if you are removed from the country. It is advisable to seek the guidance of a qualified immigration attorney before deciding to apply for a ten-year green card.
The other option for people who have illegally lived in the country for a long time would be through a registry. Since 1972, people who have continuously lived in the country for more than ten years can apply for permanent residency. But, you must demonstrate that you are a person of good morals and are not, in any way, inadmissible.
Find a Competent Los Angeles Immigration Attorney Near Me
If you are a foreign citizen and are looking to obtain U.S permanent residency, you must apply for a green card or immigrant visa. The visa will allow you to live, move freely and work in the United States. It will also allow you to bring your immediate family along, including your spouse and young unmarried children below 21 years. However, the processes are not always as straightforward as they seem. Thus, you need legal help to submit a successful application. At California Immigration Attorney, we offer legal assistance and advice to green card applicants to maximize their chances of success. Call us at 424-789-8809, and let us review your situation.