Green Card Guide

A green card allows you to become a permanent resident of the United States, allowing you to live and work there legally. United States law limits the number of immigrant visas that are given out every year. Green card visa applicants fall into one of the several categories assigned by the authorities for sponsorship purposes of immigrant visas. The country of birth of the applicant is also an important factor when it comes to immigrant visas. Countries like India and China from where a large number of applicants apply, have a longer wait. Category in which an applicant falls also affects the time frame in the issue of immigrant visas. In order to be eligible for a green card, you must fall into one of the categories, such as: • Family Sponsorship • Employer Sponsorship • Alien Entrepreneur • Diversity Lottery The country of your birth and the category you fall under play an important part in not only whether you can get a green card but how fast you can get it. Some categories receive more preference than others. Applicants who apply under categories with a low preference will have to wait longer than those who are eligible under high- preference categories. Those applying under the family sponsorship, immediate relative category may get their visa approval faster than those applying under the other relatives category. In fact those under the other relative categories may have to wait several years to get to the front of the line of applicants who have already applied.

Family Sponsorship

Family members can sponsor the following: • Husband or wife • Child under 21 years old • Unmarried child over 21 • Married child of any age • Brother or sister (if you are at least 21 years old) • Parents (provided they are at least 21 years old) Family sponsorship can further be separated into two types. Immediate relatives and other relatives. Those that come under the immediate relative category are: • Parents • Spouses • Unmarried children under the age of 21 If you fall into the other relative category, then it may take over ten years, perhaps even longer if you are from India. This is because while there is no annual numeric limit for immediate relatives of US citizens, there is an annual limit when it comes to other relatives. The time it takes to get a visa for other family members varies widely. Because the number of green cards issued in each category is limited and no one knows how many people will apply each year, there's no way of predicting how long it will take. Numbers range from 2 to 20 years.

Preferred Employees and Workers

Each year, thousands of green cards are available to people with job skills that are under-serviced and required in the United States. Usually, you need to have a job lined up before you apply. However, even if you have a job lined up, your application will be placed on the waiting list if there are more applicants than the number of visas available. Professionals with special skills that are highly in demand in the US. may be able to get into the United States on other types of visas that allow them to live and work there.

Available Worldwide