Who can apply for a green card in the United States

People all over the world have heard of green cards.  It is the unofficial term for the Alien Registration Receipt Card, which years ago were green in color.  Today they are pink.  A lot of people mistakenly believe that green cards are nothing more than work permits.  While a green card does give you the right to work legally in the U.S. where and when you wish, that is just one of its features.  Identifying the holder as a permanent resident of the U.S. is its main function.

 

When you have a green card, you are required to make the U.S. your permanent home.  If you don’t, you risk losing your card.  This does not mean your ability to travel in and out of the U.S. is limited.  Freedom to travel as you choose is an important benefit of a green card.  However, no matter how much you travel, your permanent home must be in the U.S., or your card will be revoked.  It’s wise not to spend more than six (6) months at a time outside the United States.

 

All green cards issued since 1989 carry expiration dates of ten (10) years from the date of issue.  This does not mean that the residency itself expires in ten years, just that the card must be replaced.

 

Categories of Green Card Applicants

 

There are nine categories of people who can apply for green cards.  In some of the categories you are immediately eligible for a green card, in others you must wait until one is available.  This information packet will briefly describe the categories.

 

1. Immediate Relatives

 

An unlimited number of green cards can be issued to immigrants who are immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.  Immediate relatives are defined as:

 

1.      Spouses of U.S. citizens, including recent widows and widowers

2.      Unmarried people under the age of 21 who have at least one U.S. citizen parent

3.      Parents of U.S. citizens, if the U.S. citizen child is over the age of 21

4.      Stepchildren and stepparents, if the marriage creating the stepparent-stepchild relationship took place before the child’s 18^th birthday, and

5.      Parents and children related through adoption, if the adoption took place before the child reached the age of 16.

 

2. Other Relatives

 

Certain other family members of U.S. citizen or permanent residents (green card holders) are also eligible for U.S. green cards.  However, only a limited number of green cards are available to these applicants, based on their place in the preference categories, as outlined below:

 

1.      Family first preference (Category F1A):  Unmarried people who are above 21 years of age and have at least one U.S. citizen parent.

2.      Family second preference (Category F2A or F2B): (F2A): Spouses of green card holders and unmarried children under the age of 21.  (F2B):  Unmarried sons and daughters who are over age 21) of green card holders.

3.      Family third preference (Category F3A):  Married people, of any age, who have at least one U.S. citizen parent.

4.      Family fourth preference (Category F4):  Sisters and brothers of U.S. citizens where the citizen is over 21 years old.

 

3. Employment-Based Green Cards

 

People with job skills wanted by U.S. employers are also eligible for green cards as outlined below.  However, only a limited number of green cards are available to these applicants, based on their place in the preference categories, as outlined below:

 

1. Employment first preference (Category EB-1):  Priority workers, including the following three groups: (EB1-A):  persons of extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, education, business or athletics.  (EB1-B):  outstanding research professors and researchers, and (EB1-C):  managers and executives of multi-national companies.
2. Employment second preference (Category EB-2):  Professionals with advanced degrees or exceptional ability.
3. Employment third preference (Category EB-3):  Professionals and skilled or unskilled workers.
4. Employment fourth preference (Category EB-4):  Religious workers, various miscellaneous categories of workers, and so-called Special Immigrants.
5. Employment fifth preference (Category EB-5):  individual investors willing to invest $1,000,000 in a U.S. business (or $500,000 if the business is in an economically depressed area).

 

How the Numerical Limits Affect Your Wait for a Green Card

 

If a family member or employer petitions for you in a preference category outlined above—that is a category with annual limits on the number of visas—your wait could be several years long.  Although it’s possible to estimate the likely wait in your category, this will be only an estimate.  You will need to learn to track it, month by month, based on the Visa Bulletin published by the U.S. State Department.  This system can be confusing at first.  You might want to read this explanation now, to get an idea of how it works, then refer back to it after you are deeper into the application process.

 

Every government fiscal year (which starts October 1), a fresh supply of visa numbers is made available.  How many depends on the numbers of people that Congress has said can get green cards in the preference categories in any one year.  For purposes of this explanation, a visa number means the same thing as a green card.)

 

There’s just one problem.  Thousands of people who applied in previous years are probably still waiting for their visa.  So you won’t be able to make use of this fresh crop of visa numbers right away.  Instead, the State Department (DOS) has devised a system where the people who have been waiting longest have the first right to a visa.  DOS keeps track of your place on the waiting list using date that your family member or employer first submitted a visa petition indicating that they’d like to help you immigrate.  That date is called your priority date.

 

You will need to know your Priority Date, because the whole system of figuring out where you are in your wait for a green card depends on it.  The DOS’s visa bulletin gives you only one clue about the length of your wait: a list of the Priority Dates of other people who are now getting visa and green cards.  By comparing your Priority Date to theirs, you’ll be able to track your progress.

 

Let’s take a closer look at how this works, by examining the sample chart from the visa bulletin, below:

 

Family	All Charge- ability Areas Except Those Listed	CHINA-mainland born	INDIA	MEXICO	PHILIPPINES
1st	15NOV02	15NOV02	15NOV02	01JAN91	01SEP93
2A	22DEC04	22DEC04	22DEC04	22JUN02	22DEC04
2B	15APR01	15APR01	15APR01	01MAY92	01APR98
3rd	22OCT00	22OCT00	22OCT00	01JUL91	01JUL91
4th	22OCT98	22OCT98	22OCT98	15JUN95	08AUG86

 

The visa bulletin above is the one for family-based applicants.  There is another for employment-based applicants.  This chart is from July 2009.  To access a current visa bulletin, go to www.state.gov.  Click the “Travel & Business” tab, then under “Visas (Foreign citizens),” click “Visa Bulletins.”

 

You will see on the chart above that the preference categories are listed in the column on the left and the countries of origin are listed in the row across the top.  The rest of the squares contain the “current” Priority Dates—also called the visa cutoff dates.  Anyone whose date shows up on this chart has finished their wait and is eligible for a green card.

 

Let’s say you are the brother of a U.S. citizen and you’re from the Philippines.  Let’s also imagine that your brother has filed a petition for you to immigrate, in March 2007.  To find out what the waits are like now, as you begin the process, you will need to locate your preference category in the left column (4^th Preference, on the bottom line), and your country on the top row, then find the square that corresponds to both—it’s the square at the bottom right.

 

The priority date listed in that square is 08AUG86 (August 8^th, 1986).  That tells you that brothers of U.S. citizens who started this process on September 1, 1984 become eligible for green cards in the month this visa bulletin came out (July 2009).  To estimate your wait, figure out how long they waited—about 23 years.  That’s more or less how long you can expect to wait, starting from your March 2007 priority date.

 

The long waiting time is frustrating, but there is truly nothing you can do to move them along (unless your family petitioner can become a U.S. citizen, which will often put you into a higher preference category or make you an immediate relative).  As you track these dates over the years, you will notice that they don’t advance smoothly.  Sometimes they get stuck on one date for months at a time.  Other times your square will just say “U” for unavailable, meaning no one is eligible for a green card in that category until further notice—usually when a new fiscal year begins, in October.  But if you’re really lucky, you may see a “C” meaning that everyone who has a visa petition on file is immediately eligible for a green card, regardless of Priority Date.

 

4. Diversity Visa: Green Card Lottery

 

Approximately 50,000 green cards are offered each year to people from countries that in recent years have sent the fewest immigrants to the United States.  The purpose of this program is to ensure a varied ethnic mix among those who immigrate to the U.S. (although applicants must also meet certain educational requirements).  Therefore, green cards in this category are said to be based on ethnic diversity.  The method used for choosing people who can apply for these green cards is a random selection by computer, so the program is popularly known as the green card lottery.

 

5. Refugees and Political Asylees

Every year, many people seek political asylum in the U.S. or try to get green cards as refugees.  The two are often thought of as the same category, but there are some technical differences,.  A refugee receives permission to come to the U.S. in refugee status before actually arriving.  Political asylum is granted only after someone has physically entered the U.S., usually either as an nonimmigrant or an undocumented alien, and then submit an application.

 

The qualifications for refugee status and political asylum are similar.  You must have either been persecuted or fear future persecution in your home country on account of your race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.  If you are only fleeing poverty or general violence, you do not qualify in either category.  Both refugees and political asylees can apply for green cards one year after their approval.

 

6. Long-Term Residents & Other Special Cases

 

The law also allows certain people who have lived illegally in the U.S. for more than 10 years to obtain permanent legal residence, though a procedure known as “Cancellation of Removal.”  They must show that their spouse or children—who are U.S. citizens—would face “extraordinary and exceptionally unusual hardship” if the undocumented alien were forced to leave the country.  If you believe that you meet this requirement, consult with an immigration attorney before going to the immigration authorities.  Otherwise, you might ultimately cause your won deportation by making your presence known.  Even if you fall into this category, applying is difficult, because there is no regular process unless you are in deportation proceedings.

 

Another category, known as the Registry allows people to adjust status if they have lived in the United States since January 1, 1972.  Please consult with an immigration attorney before you apply for this benefit.

 

[Click Here for a Free Legal Consultation Online]