How to Become a Lawful Permanent Resident
Pathways to Obtaining a Green Card
While many individuals seeking to enjoy the benefits of living and working in the United States can fulfill their goals with a nonimmigrant visitor or work visa, others who desire to stay in the U.S. on a long-term basis should pursue permanent residency, which is the status a foreign national receives after immigrating.
Whatever your reason for seeking permanent resident status, you should familiarize yourself with the various immigration options available for individuals to make the U.S. their permanent home. As it happens, what makes sense for one person seeking permanent residency does not make sense for another. Only you know where your current situation stands and what you're seeking as you move to the United States.
You may immigrate to the United States to become a lawful permanent resident of the United States one of five ways:
1. Immigration through a Family Member
If you have a relative who is a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., then you may apply for permanent residency through that relative. Individuals eligible with relatives in the U.S. include immediately family members (spouse, parent, minor children) of U.S. citizens (IR status), unmarried children over 21 of U.S. citizens (F1 status), spouses and minor children of lawful permanent resident (F2A status), unmarried children over 21 of lawful permanent residents (F2B status), married children of U.S. citizens (F3 status), and brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens (F4 status).
Those granted immigration under Immediate Relative (IR) status are unlimited, and statistics show that generally 300,000 to 500,000 individuals use this provision. However, for all others, there is a limited number of visas issued, and thus a backlog that can last from 5-10 years, depending on which visa is being requested. Because of preference given as ordered by the number of visa, F1 is the fastest visa number to become available, while F4 takes the longest.
Visit the permanent resident application process page for more on the steps to immigrate through a family member.
2. Immigration through Employment
As in many nonimmigrant visas for workers, permanent work visas are grouped under several categories: EB-1 for "priority workers" (workers with outstanding abilities, or those who are exceptional in academic or business fields); EB-2 for persons with advanced degrees; EB-3 for skilled, non-skilled or professional workers; EB-4 for religious workers or former employees of the U.S. Government abroad.
The individual must be sponsored by a business who can guarantee employment through application to the Department of Labor and the USCIS. When the individual is granted temporary worker status, then the employer and individual will apply for a change of status to permanent residence status. For more on the application process for an immigrant work visa, visit the permanent resident application process page.
3. Immigration through Diversity Lottery
The Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery is a program that issues 55,000 immigrant visas to those who wish to immigrate to the United States coming from countries with low immigration rates. Typically, countries excluded from the DV Lottery include Canada, Mexico, South Korea, China and other countries from which many immigrants emigrate.
The Department of State selects approximately 110,000 applicants from the pool, calculating that many will not make it through the process. Once 55,000 visas are issued, even if you have been selected, no more DVs are issued. Applications for the lottery must be turned in far in advance: the open period for applications for 2009 was October 3, 2007 until December 2, 2007.
View the permanent resident application process page for more on the diversity lottery.
4. Immigration through Investment
Also known as fifth-preference, or EB-5 immigration, investment permanent residency is granted to individuals who invest a certain amount in the United States or begin or expand a business in the United States. 10,000 EB-5 visas are issued per year, with 5,000 being reserved for issuance by business investment in a "regional center" as defined by the USCIS. Those who start or purchase a business or create at least 10 new individual jobs in an existing business are eligible, as well as those who invest at least $1,000,000 in a U.S. business or $500,000 in a targeted area.
5. Immigration through Registry
"Registry" is a provision made available by the US immigration and Nationality Act. According to section 249 of the act, a person may be granted permanent residence if he or she can prove continuous residence in the United States since before January 1, 1972. As with other visa options, continuous residence doesn't necessarily mean that you cannot have left the United States during this time; it just means that you cannot have left for long enough to have been seen to abandon residence in the U.S., typically more than one year of continuous absence.
For more on immigration through investment or immigration through registry, visit the application process page.
Got Questions about the Pathways to a Green Card?
Speak to an Immigration Lawyer Today!
There are many complexities to the process of obtaining a green card as a lawful permanent resident of the United States, no matter which pathway you decided to follow to immigration. As the diversity lottery numbers show, the Department of State chooses twice the amount of applicants for the simple reason that most people won't qualify or have not completed the requirements for a green card.
Don't let this happen to you!
Speak to an immigration lawyer in your local area about these and many other issues by completing our simple, no-obligation immigration case evaluation form or by calling us at (877) 444-1074. Take this step today!