This is the reason foreign nationals should obtain the U.S lawful permanent resident status for many benefits come with it. It allows them an opportunity to visit, immigrate, work, and live in the United States at any given time in their life upon meeting certain conditions that make them ineligible for deportation. The document that is evidence of this status is known as the ‘green card. ‘ Besides, having complied with the legal provisions and relevant language test and after living in the country for a fixed number of years, the green card holder may also apply for naturalized U. S citizenship which is the supreme status recognized under the U. S and immigration law. This article offers a brief of the common green cards below to offer an understanding of the number of slots for applicants globally.
WHO QUALIFIES
1. DOE: Immigration Law Immediate Relatives of U. S. Citizens
It is difficult to determine the exact ranking given to immediate relatives in the procedure for obtaining U. S. green cards, but as a rule, they get a priority when it comes to processing. This eligibility category encompasses:
- Marrying couples and fiancés of US citizens as well as the recent spouses of those who have passed away. Same-sex spouses are covered by this category also if the marriage is legally recognized within the country where it was performed.
- Persons under a certain age (specifically 21 years) with no spouse, who have a minimum of one U.S citizen parent.
- Parents of U.S citizen –this isprovided that the U.S citizen is a child of at least, 21 years of age.
- The non-citizen applicants include stepchildren and stepparents of U.S. citizens, provided the marriage creating the stepparent-stepchild relationship occurred before the child turned eighteen.
- U.S. citizens or permanent residents legally adopt orphans or abandoned children and test them before their sixteenth birthday or before they are capable of independent living, based on other specified conditions.
U.S. citizens can sponsor their relatives for green cards through a petition called I-130. Immigrants’ relatives can receive an unlimited number of green cards. Once you complete the paperwork, you can obtain the green card right away. There are two main sponsorship categories: Supply Chain Sponsorship and Enterprise Sponsorship.
2. Other Family Members of U.S. Citizens or Lawful Permanent Residents
Although not usually eligible to receive immediate green cards, certain close family members of U. S. citizens or permanent residents can get U. S. green cards as well. These individuals fall into the “preference categories,” which include groups of people who receive a limited number of green cards, capped at 480,000 each fiscal year.
It follows the system of ‘chronological order where the applicant who files a Form I- 130 with the U. S. government means that an immigrant with the earlier date qualifies to apply for a green card as they fall under the ‘priority date’ Outside of that, it is difficult to estimate the number of years for the applicants to wait. Keep in mind that wait times change based on visa type, the number of applicants from the same country, and the current workload of U.S. immigration agencies, which face significant backlogs according to 2023 statistics.
The waiting time to be granted the U. S green card is highly unpredictable as it can take anywhere between a few months to ten years and maybe more in some instances. It may be as short as the basic processing time and depending on the circumstances, as is often the case with the spouses and children under the age of 21 of the permanent residents in category F2A. Categories based on relative priorities, such as siblings of U.S. citizens and individuals with Philippine citizenship, may take 20 or more years to process.
Categories
- Family First Preference (“F1”): Finally, the fourth segment of the popup is for unmarried adults without dependent children under age 21 who possess at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen and are, themselves, 21 years old or over.
- Second Preference (“F2A”): Family-based second preference includes spouses and unmarried children under the age of twenty-one of green card holders. “F2B” includes the condition of individuals who an unmarried children of a green card holder who is 21 years or older.
- Family Third Preference (“F3”): Spouses, regardless of their age, who have at least one parent who is a permanent resident or a citizen of the United States.
- Fourth Preference (“F4”): Relatives of a U.S. citizen who also is a sibling or a brother/sister Sibling sponsored by the U.S. citizen must be 21 years and above.
Mexican, Indian, and Chinese citizens face longer wait times for green cards due to high demand and per-country visa limits.
3. Employment-Based Green Cards:
Preferred Employees and Workers, Primarily with Job Offers from U.S. Companies
Each year, the U.S. grants 140,000 green cards to immigrants with job offers. To qualify, you must have skills that the American job market needs and secure a job offer from a U.S. employer. The employer must demonstrate that they attempted to hire U.S. workers but couldn’t find any. This process, known as “preference,” has limited slots each year, so some applicants may wait for years. The subcategories are as follows:
- Employment First Preference (EB-1): Priority workers are individuals with exceptional talent in arts, sciences, education, business, or athletics, as well as outstanding professors, researchers, managers, and executives from large companies or establishments abroad. They are qualified professionals intending to be employed in Hong Kong.
- Second Preference (EB-2): Occupations that require specialized training or abilities such as a specialized degree or post-graduate education.
- Employment Third Preference (EB-3): Specialists and ordinary employees workers, mechanics, operators, or unskilled workers.
- Fourth Preference (EB-4): This is true because while the religious workers and miscellaneous worker categories are relevant skills for demand and supply equations in the United States, the waiters and waitresses are not.
- Employment Fifth Preference (EB-5): Any foreign investor who is willing to invest $1 million in a company based in the United States or $500,000 if the company is located in a Targeted Economic Revitalization area. To be considered legitimate, the business must hire at least ten US citizens as employees.
Applicants seeking foreign employment need to ensure that the employers show genuine concern for their employment and are willing to undertake the various processes involved in the employment application. For detailed insights, refer to “Sponsoring a Worker for a Green Card: Employer task list. “
4. Annual Diversity Green Card Lottery
The U.S. government issues a specific number of green cards, currently 50,000, to immigrants from countries with low recent emigration to the United States.
Fortunately, the quota does not include spouses and children who can be members of the team regardless of the number of team members of working age represented in the team.
The first opening is known as a lottery and is carried out by the U. S. State Department usually in the fateful season of Autumn. People chosen by this lottery can go ahead and apply for a green card given they have met the required educational standards and other standards as a cardinal product. However, it is important to point out that getting a favorable outcome from the lottery is not always as successful especially given that there is a limited time for approval and not everyone approves before the time expires.
5. Special Immigrants
Laws sometimes create pathways for obtaining a green card for special cases, such as juvenile court wards, international broadcast journalists, and U.S. government retirees living abroad.
6. Refuge and Asylum
The U.S. offers asylum to people who are in danger of being persecuted or who have already been persecuted in their home country.
People living outside the USA can seek refugee status through the UN. If already in the US, they can apply for asylum by filing a form with USCIS within a year of arrival, except for certain cases. To qualify, one must show persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or social group membership. Poverty or random violence doesn’t count. Other factors like criminal history or persecution of others can also affect eligibility.
After a year of being granted asylum or refugee status, individuals can apply for a green card. Refugees must apply within a year of arriving in the US, while asylees can apply later but it’s better to do it sooner to avoid losing status if conditions in their home country improve.
7. Long-time residents of the United States
U.S. law allows certain individuals who have resided unlawfully (commonly referred to as illegally) in the U.S. for over ten years to request permanent residence as a defense in immigration court proceedings. People call this remedy ‘cancellation of removal,’ but it’s often referred to colloquially as the ‘ten-year green card.
To succeed in this claim, individuals must demonstrate to the immigration court judge that their deportation would cause their U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent, or children to face ‘exceptional and extremely unusual hardship.’ Additionally, they must prove that they have maintained ‘good moral character’ throughout their ten years in the U.S., without any convictions for specific crimes or violations of certain laws.
Consulting an attorney is advisable if you believe you might qualify for cancellation. Notably, there is no application process; this remedy is exclusively available to foreign nationals already facing deportation. Under no circumstances should individuals approach U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without adequate preparation, as this could result in deportation (removal) without having sufficiently readied oneself to raise cancellation as a defense.
Another remedy known as “registry” permits individuals who have continuously resided in the U.S. since January 1, 1972, to apply for a green card. Applicants must demonstrate good moral character and avoid being inadmissible. Importantly, you do not have to reside unlawfully in the United States during this period; the time you spend on a visa also counts, very few individuals are eligible for the registry, prompting periodic discussions in Congress regarding advancing the eligibility date.
8. Special Cases
Occasionally, individual members of the U.S. Congress intervene for humanitarian reasons in extraordinary cases, seeking to assist foreign nationals in obtaining U.S. permanent residence even when no existing category in the law permits it.
How Law and Visas Can Help?
At Law and Visas, our team of expert immigration consultants is here to make your travel to the United States straightforward and successful. Whether you’re applying for a Asylum and Refugee Status or a Diversity Visa Lottery, we handle every step—from preparing your application to gathering the required documents.
Our Immigration Consultants and Lawyers ensure that your application meets the highest standards, with no details missed. We’ll also keep you informed throughout the process and coordinate with the immigration office or embassy on your behalf.
Law and Visas has a strong record of helping clients secure the visas/permits they need to visit the United States. Call us today at +234 812 5505 986 to learn how we can assist you.
