Referred officially as a permanent resident card, a green card is your first step towards permanent residency.Being foreign nationals who were not born in the United States, a Green Card (Permanent Resident Card) provides the applicants with several benefits besides a residentship in the States:

• Provides you an official immigration status in the United States
• Entitles certain rights and responsibilities to you as a citizen of the U.S.
• Is a necessary document if you want to naturalize as a U.S. Citizen

In most cases, applicants are provided green cards, either on their family connection or as individuals with a specific talent. There are multiple categories of green cards to choose from.

There are multiple types to choose from.

Green Card Through Family

Applying for a green card through the family is one of the most prominent ways of issuing residentship status to foreign nationals. If you have a U.S. citizen as your immediate relative, the member can help your entry into the States by filing for an I-130 petition to USCIS. Once the petition is approved, the applicants are then provided with visas over a specific preference of order, with high priority among unmarried and adult children. Once you’ve received your family-based green visa, you can file a petition to adjust your immigration status as a foreign permanent resident, granting you a green card. Alternatively, applicants are also allowed to file an application at their home country via consular processing, to change immigration status.

Green Card Through Employment

The employment-based green card provides you with a permanent resident status once you’re hired via a U.S.-based employer and they petition for you to work and live in the United States. However, to ensure a successful application, your employer first needs to admit to paying you the prevailing wage, ensuring there are no eligible U.S. workers to fill your offered position. You can also self petition in certain scenarios.The variety of employment-based visas include:

EB-1 Visa: The EB-1 is an immigrant status eligible for applicants with an “extraordinary ability” in business, education, science, arts, or athletics. Applicants who are outstanding researchers with significant recognitions in their name or Intra-company transferees are also eligible. Read More

EB-2 Visa: EB-2 is a sponsor-based immigrant visa where your employer can apply for an EB-2 visa on your behalf if you hold an advanced degree. Or if you could substantially contribute to the United States’ culture, welfare, economy, or educational interests. Read More

EB-3 Visa: You are a qualified applicant under the EB-3 visa category if you have at least two years of experience as a skilled worker or hold a bachelor’s degree. Or below two years of experience in unskilled work, in a field where there are not enough qualified workers available in the United States. Read More

EB-4 Visa: Applicants under the EB-4 visas are limited to certain Special Immigrants and religious workers. Read More

EB-5 Visa: The EB-5 is a visa application limited to investors. To be eligible under the EB-5 visa category, you’re allowed to invest capital into a commercial enterprise based in America. Read More

Under the adoption category of green card, applicants need to have an adopted child under 16 years of age and is a foreign national. Further, the child must’ve lived under your custody for a minimum of two years. Eligible applicants can then file a petition for receiving a visa. Once obtained, you can then initiate the process of transferring their immigration status to permanent resident.

The applicants have entered the United States via legal or illegal means, fearing torture, death, or persecution in the country of their origin, based on race, nationality, religion, or other similar social status factors. Further, the United States also grants refugee status to a limited number of immigrants every year. These applicants include people who face famine, civil unrest, or war in their home countries.

To be an applicant under this category, you need to ensure that your needs lie under humanitarian grounds and your fears of persecution or harm are well-founded. Once you have received a visa based on refuge or asylum, you can petition for permanent residency post a year in the U.S.

Since its inception, the Law Offices of Prashanthi Reddy, PLLC, an NYC-based immigration law practice, has submitted many green card applications for foreign nationals with non-immigrant status. As a result, our attorneys are well versed in helping applicants with multiple categories of green cards.

Because a lot of our work at the Law Offices of Prashanthi Reddy, PLLC, is based around green cards for foreign nationals, we are in a unique position to advise our clients on best practices at the time of submitting individual cases.

For more information, contact The Law Offices of Prashanthi Reddy at prashanthi@reddyesq.com or by calling 212-354-1010.