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Immigrant Visas and Green Cards

People all over the world have heard of green cards -- more properly known as Alien Registration Receipt Cards or Permanent Resident Cards. Years ago, these cards were green. Then, for a while they were red, white and blue. Today they are bluish-pink, but the term green card has stuck.

Lots 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 United States, that is just one of its features. Its main function is to identify the holder as a permanent resident of the United States. A work permit, or employment authorization document, is a separate document, given to certain other people, such as certain temporary residents.

Getting a green card is not an easy process. First, in most cases you must have a sponsor, usually a relative or U.S. employer who wants to bring you to the United States. You must then convince the U.S. Government that you are eligible under one of the categories available for permanent residence. Then you must apply for an immigrant visa at a consulate, generally the one located in the country where you live. (If you are already in the United States, you may be allowed to stay to apply directly for a green card.)

The consulate will review your green card application, making sure you do not fall into any category of people who are excluded from the United States, which is called being inadmissible. Only after you are found to be admissible will you get an immigrant visa, which will either be affixed or stamped in your passport. You must generally enter the United States within six months to claim your green card.

Once you have a green card, you are required to make the United States your permanent home. If you don't, you risk losing your card. This does not mean that your ability to travel in and out of the United States is limited. Freedom to travel as you choose is an important benefit of a green card. However, no matter how much you travel, you must maintain your permanent residence in the United States. It's safest not to stay away for more than six months, especially if you are thinking about becoming a United States citizen.

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

Green Card Categories

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has many categories for permanent residents. You must fit into one of those categories to be eligible for a green card. There are often numerical limits or quotas within categories, and certain categories are given higher preference than others.

1. Immediate Relatives

There is no numerical quota on the number of green cards that can be issued to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. Immediate relatives are defined as:

• Spouses of U.S. citizens, including (subject to certain limitations) recent widows and widowers
• Unmarried people under the age of 21 who have at least one U.S. citizen parent
• Parents of U.S. citizens, if the U.S. citizen child is over the age of 21
• Stepchildren and stepparents of U.S. citizens, if the marriage creating the stepparent/stepchild relationship took place before the child's 18th birthday, and
• Parents and children of U.S. citizens related through adoption, if the adoption took place before the child reached the age of 16, and if certain other conditions are met.

2. Preferences

Those who receive green cards under categories with quotas fall into one of several classifications called Preferences. Anyone in a Preference Category will have to wait for his or her green card, sometimes for years. Although there are a number of Preference Categories, they actually cover only two general types of people:

• Certain family members of U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and
• People with job skills wanted by U.S. employers.

Group I: Family Preference Green Cards

Family First Preference. Unmarried people, any age, who have at least one U.S. citizen parent.

Family Second Preference. Section A: Spouses and minor children of permanent residents. Section B: Unmarried adult children of permanent residents.

Family third preference. Married people, any age, who have at least one U.S. citizen parent.

Family Fourth Preference. Sisters and brothers, 21 years old or older, of U.S. citizens.

Group II: Employment Preference Green Cards

Employment first preference. Priority workers, including the following three groups:

• Persons of extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, education, business or athletics
• Outstanding professors and researchers with universities or private employers that have established research departments, and
• Managers and executives subject to international transfer to the United States.

Employment second preference. Professionals with advanced degrees, or aliens of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business.

Employment third preference. Professionals with bachelors degrees not qualifying in the second preference, skilled workers (filling positions requiring at least two years of training and experience), or unskilled workers.

Employment fourth preference. Certain "Special Immigrants," a category that includes certain religious workers and various miscellaneous categories of workers and other individuals.

Employment fifth preference. Immigrant investors who invest a specific minimum amount of capital in a new commercial enterprise which will create employment for a specific minimum number of U.S. workers.

3. Ethnic Diversity: Green Card Lotteries

A designated number of green cards are available to people from certain "low admission" countries, which are countries that in recent years have sent fewer than a specified number of immigrants to the United States, as calculated in accordance with a government formula. The purpose of this program is to ensure a varied ethnic mix among those who immigrate to America. The method used for distributing these green cards is a random selection by computer, so the program is popularly known as the green card lottery.

4. Refuge and Political Asylum

The U.S. government offers refuge, under certain prescribed conditions, to people who fear political, religious or other persecution in their home country. A person still outside the United States would apply to be a refugee; a person already in the United States would apply for political asylum. The qualifications for refugee status and political asylum are similar. However, if you are only fleeing poverty, you do not qualify in either category.

5. Temporary Protected Status

The U.S. government may decide to give citizens of certain countries temporary safe haven in the United States when conditions in their homeland become dangerous. This is called Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS is similar to political asylum except that it is always temporary, and will never alone qualify the recipient for a green card.

6. Certain Long-Term Residents and Other Special Cases

There exist some additional ways for people to become lawful permanent residents of the U.S. For example, the law allows certain people who have lived illegally in the United States since January 1, 1972 to obtain permanent legal residence. If you believe that you meet this requirement, you should consult a lawyer before going to the government to make an application. Green cards may also be available to certain other individuals. For example, U.S. laws provide that certain former U.S. citizens, former diplomats and their families, and Hong Kong employees of U.S. companies may under some circumstances be able to achieve lawful permanent resident status. You should check with an immigration attorney to determine whether you are eligible for a green card under one of these or other miscellaneous provisions.

Finally, individual members of Congress have, on occasion, intervened for humanitarian reasons in extraordinary cases, helping an individual obtain permanent residence even if the law would not allow it.

Quotas

As a general rule, there are no limits on the number of green cards that can be issued to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. Subject to certain exceptions, for those who qualify in any other category, there are annual quotas. Quotas affect family and employment-based preference green cards, and can create long waiting periods. Green cards allocated annually to employment-based categories, including investors and special immigrants, number 140,000 worldwide. In the family categories, approximately 480,000 green cards can be issued each year.

Subject to certain exceptions, only 7% of all worldwide preference totals added together can be given to persons born in any one country. There are, therefore, two separate quotas: one for each country and for the entire world. The 7% allotment to each country is an allowable maximum, not a guaranteed number. Applicants from a single country that has not used up its 7% green card allotment can still be prevented from getting green cards if the worldwide quota has been exhausted.

In addition to the fixed worldwide totals, 55,000 green cards are given each year through the ethnic diversity or lottery program. Qualifying countries and the number of green cards available to each are determined each year according to a formula.

Checklist: Documents You Will Need If You Are Obtaining Permanent Residence

To read and printout a copy of the Checklist please link below.

Documents You Will Need If You Are Obtaining Permanent Residence

You can download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

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