Green cards

What a green card gives you

A green card — formally a Permanent Resident Card — is proof that you have the legal right to live and work in the United States permanently. It does not expire the way a visa does. The physical card is renewed every ten years but your status as a permanent resident does not have an end date.

With a green card you can:

• Live anywhere in the US without restriction

• Work for any employer in any field

• Start your own business

• Travel in and out of the US freely

• Sponsor certain family members for their own green cards

• Apply for US citizenship after five years — or three if you got your green card through marriage to a US citizen

What a green card does not give you is citizenship. You cannot vote. You cannot get a US passport. And in certain circumstances — prolonged absence from the US, specific criminal convictions — permanent resident status can be lost.

How you can qualify

There is no single path to a green card. The route available to you depends entirely on your situation — your family ties, your employment, your country of birth, and your current immigration status.

Through family

Family-based green cards are the most common. A US citizen or permanent resident can petition for certain family members to receive a green card.

US citizens can petition for:

• Spouses

• Unmarried children under 21

• Parents

• Married children of any age

• Brothers and sisters

Permanent residents can petition for:

• Spouses

• Unmarried children

Immediate relatives of US citizens — spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents — have no annual cap and generally move through the process faster. All other family categories are subject to annual limits and can involve waits of several years depending on your country of birth.

Through employment

Employer-sponsored green cards are divided into preference categories based on your qualifications and the type of work you do.

• EB-1 — Priority workers: people with extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives and managers. No labor certification required.

• EB-2 — Professionals with advanced degrees or exceptional ability. Labor certification required in most cases, though a National Interest Waiver can bypass this requirement.

• EB-3 — Skilled workers, professionals, and unskilled workers. Labor certification required.

• EB-4 — Special immigrants, including certain religious workers, broadcasters, and others.

• EB-5 — Immigrant investors who invest a qualifying amount in a US business that creates jobs.

Employment-based green cards require your employer to sponsor you in most cases. The labor certification process — known as PERM — requires the employer to demonstrate that no qualified US worker is available for the position before sponsoring a foreign national.

Through the Diversity Visa Lottery

Each year the US government makes 50,000 green cards available through a random draw to nationals of countries with historically low immigration rates to the US. There is no fee to enter. Registration opens annually in October. If selected, you still have to go through the full application process and meet all eligibility requirements.

Through asylum or refugee status

If you have been granted asylum or admitted as a refugee, you can apply for a green card one year after your status was granted. This is one of the most direct paths from humanitarian protection to permanent residency.

Through other special categories

There are additional green card categories for specific situations — victims of trafficking or certain crimes (T and U visas), victims of abuse under VAWA, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for certain young people, and others. If your situation does not fit neatly into family or employment categories, ask us. There may be a path you have not considered.

The application process

The green card process has two main stages regardless of which category you are applying through.

Stage 1 — The petition

Someone files a petition on your behalf establishing that you qualify for a green card in a specific category. For family-based cases this is Form I-130, filed by your US citizen or permanent resident family member. For employment-based cases this is Form I-140, filed by your employer. For some categories — EB-1A extraordinary ability, EB-2 National Interest Waiver — you can file the petition yourself.

USCIS reviews the petition and either approves or denies it. Approval does not mean you have a green card. It means you have established eligibility and can move to the next stage.

Stage 2 — Getting the green card

How you get the actual green card depends on where you are when your priority date becomes current.

If you are inside the US, you file Form I-485 — Adjustment of Status. This allows you to obtain your green card without leaving the country. You will attend a biometrics appointment, potentially an interview, and receive a decision.

If you are outside the US, you go through consular processing at a US embassy or consulate in your home country. You will attend an immigrant visa interview and, if approved, enter the US as a permanent resident.

Priority dates and waiting

For categories subject to annual caps, you cannot move to Stage 2 until your priority date is current. Your priority date is the date USCIS received your petition.

The State Department publishes a Visa Bulletin every month showing which priority dates are current for each category and country. For applicants from countries with high demand — India, China, Mexico, Philippines — the wait can be extraordinarily long. Some employment-based categories for Indian nationals have backlogs measured in decades.

This is one of the most frustrating realities of US immigration law. It is not something any attorney can change. But understanding where you are in the queue — and planning around it — is something we help you do.

Conditional green cards

If you receive a green card through marriage and you have been married for less than two years at the time it is approved, you will receive a conditional green card valid for two years rather than a standard ten-year card.

Before that two-year card expires, you must file Form I-751 — a joint petition with your spouse — to have the conditions removed and receive a standard green card. If your marriage has ended or your spouse is unwilling to file jointly, there are waivers available. We handle these situations carefully and without judgment.

Similarly, EB-5 investors receive conditional green cards that must have conditions removed after two years.

Maintaining your green card

Getting a green card is not the end of the process. You have to maintain your permanent resident status — and there are ways to lose it.

Extended absences Leaving the US for more than six months can trigger questions about whether you have abandoned your residency. Leaving for more than one year generally results in loss of your green card unless you obtained a re-entry permit before leaving. If you need to spend extended time outside the US, talk to us before you go.

Criminal convictions Certain criminal convictions can make you deportable even as a permanent resident. This includes aggravated felonies and crimes involving moral turpitude. If you have been arrested or convicted of anything — even something that seems minor — get legal advice before assuming it will not affect your green card.

Failure to file taxes Permanent residents are required to file US taxes. Failure to do so can affect your good moral character — which matters when you apply for citizenship and in other immigration contexts.

The path to citizenship

A green card is not the finish line — it is the last major step before citizenship. Most permanent residents can apply for naturalization after five years. If you got your green card through marriage to a US citizen and remain married and living with that citizen, you can apply after three years.

Citizenship gives you rights that a green card does not — the right to vote, a US passport, and status that cannot be revoked under normal circumstances. If you are eligible, it is worth pursuing.

The bottom line

A green card is the most significant immigration benefit the US offers short of citizenship. The process is long, the waiting can be frustrating, and the rules are unforgiving. But for most people it is achievable — and worth every step.

If you are not sure which path applies to you, or if your situation involves complications, start with a conversation. Understanding your options clearly is the most important thing you can do right now.