US GREEN CARDS INFORMATION
US green cards are US
permanent residence visa, and gives you the legal right to live and work
permanently in the United States and to enter and leave the country
freely. US Green card holders also receive health, education, and other
benefits, and they can sponsor relatives for US green cards. The green card
does not affect present citizenship. A green card holder may later apply
for United States citizenship, if desired.
The term green card is not an official
name, but rather a common term for what is known as Alien Registration
Receipt Card. Years ago, green cards as the common name suggests were originally green in color. Over
the years however, the color of U.S. green cards have changed, and
green cards have been issued in various colors including pink and
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No, a green card is not merely a work permit. Many
foreigners as well as some Americans erroneously believe that US green cards are nothing more
than work permits. It is true that US green cards gives you the right to
work legally in the United States; but while this is one of the green
card's more obvious features, the US
green card's main purpose however, is that of identifying the holder
thereof as a
permanent resident of the United States.
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- US green cards through relatives (family member)
- US green cards through
international adoption
- US green cards through fiance (K-1 visas)
- US green cards through employment
- US green cards through investment
- US green cards through special statuses: political asylee or refugee
- US green cards through diversity: The
Green Card Lottery
- US green cards through Violence Against Women Act
(VAWA)
- US green cards through "The Registry" (Immigration
and Nationality Act)
US green cards through a relative or family member
Who Qualifies?
You qualify for a green card if you have a close family
member who is a U.S. citizen or US green card holder. Specifically, you must
fall into one of the following three categories:
-
Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.
-
Preference relatives of U.S. citizens or green card
holders.
-
Accompanying relatives of those in the preference
categories.
Who are considered immediate relatives?
-
Spouses of U.S. citizens. This includes widows and
widowers of U.S. citizens, if they were married to the U.S. citizen for at
least two years and are applying for a green card either before November
29, 1992, or within two years of the U.S. citizen's death, whichever
is later.
-
Unmarried people under the age of twenty-one who have at
least one U.S. citizen parent.
-
Parents of U.S. citizens, if the U.S. citizen child is
over the age of twenty-one.
Immediate relatives may immigrate to the U.S. in
unlimited numbers. They are not controlled by quota.
Step-parents and step-children qualify as immediate
relatives if the marriage creating the parent/child relationship took
place before the child's eighteenth birthday. Parents and children related
through adoption also qualify as immediate relatives, if the
adoption took place before the child reached the age of sixteen. In
addition, the adopted child must have lived with the adoptive parent or
parents for at least two years prior to filing the petition for a green
card. Click the links below to learn how
to obtain US
green cards for adopted children:
International adoption
| alien adoption |
foreign adoption
Preference Relatives
Here are the qualifications needed for the four
preferences based on relatives:
-
Family First Preference. Unmarried people, any age, with
at least one U.S. citizen parent.
-
Family Second Preference. Spouses of green card holders
and people, any age, who have at least one parent holding a green card.
-
Family Third Preference. Married people, any age, who have
at least one U.S. citizen parent.
-
Family Fourth Preference. Brothers and sisters of U.S.
citizens.
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There are two major reasons why you could
lose your green card. The first reason is when you abandon the United
States as your permanent home, and the second is when you have committed a
crime or felony.
Table of Contents:
When you have a green card, you are required to make the
United States your permanent home. If you don't, you risk losing your
green card. There is a widespread but wrong notion that all you have to do
to keep your status as a permanent U.S. resident is to reenter the United
States at least once a year. Nothing could be further from the truth. In
fact the mere intent to make some other country your permanent home when
you leave the United States is already considered a forfeiture of your
green card. Immigration and border officials will be on the alert looking
for every bit of these signs every time you come and go through the U.S.
border or port.
The Commuter Exception
Green card holders who commute to work in the U.S. from Canada or Mexico
on a daily or seasonal basis may keep their cards even while actually
living outside the country. The BCIS will grant you commuter status if you
advise them of your intention to live on the other side of the U.S.
border.
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The general rule is if you stay outside the United
States for more than a year you can run into trouble and have difficulty
reentering the United States, since the U.S. government considers that a
possible sign of abandonment of U.S. residence. To spare yourself from a
full blown investigation regarding your residency status you should return
within six (6) months.
On the other hand, remaining outside the United States
for more than one year does not mean you have automatically given up your
green card. If your absence was intended from the start to be only
temporary, you may still keep your permanent resident status. However, you
may no longer use your green card as a U.S. entry document. You must
either apply at a U.S. consulate for a special immigrant visa as a
returning resident or you must have what is known as a reentry permit.
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If you're a green card holder and plan to
stay outside the United States for more than a year, you should apply for
a reentry permit with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Service (BCIS).
Here are some things to keep in mind when
applying for a reentry permit:
-
Only a green card holder can apply for a
reentry permit.
-
A reentry permit can only be applied for
only within the United States.
-
You may be allowed you to stay outside
the U.S. for a maximum of two years.
-
Fill out Form I-131(available at www.bcis.gov ), and submit before
leaving the United States.
-
If you intend to stay outside for more
than 2 years, return briefly, and reapply for a reentry permit.
-
Your reentry permit will serve as an
entry document when you return to the United States.
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A Returning Resident Visa is for returning green card
holders who left the United States without a reentry permit, and who
stayed outside the United States for more than one year.
Here's the procedure for obtaining a Returning Resident
Visa:
-
Apply at a U.S. consulate abroad for a special
immigrant visa as a returning resident.
-
Convince the consular officer know that your absence
from the United States was a temporary one, and that you have no
intention of abandoning your U.S. residence.
-
Show evidence that the reason you were kept away for
so long was due to unforeseen circumstances.
You must give a very good reason, supported by evidence,
as to why you failed to return to the United States on time. If you fail
to convince the consular officer, chances are you will lose your green
card.
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The most common way that people lose their right to a
green card is to commit a crime. Unlike what many people believe, it
doesn’t have to be a major crime or a felony. For example, a person can be
deported for helping someone enter the United States illegally; for
committing domestic violence; for possessing even a small amount of drugs;
and for any other crime that’s considered morally wrong (such as fraud,
theft, a crime with the intent of doing great bodily harm or a sex
offense).
However, there is no set list of which crimes make you
deportable. The criminal grounds of deportability are too complex to
analyze on one’s own. If you are arrested for anything at all, consult not
only a criminal lawyer, but also an immigration lawyer to find out whether
and how you can avoid deportation.
In addition, a person can be deported for certain
violations that don’t fall under the criminal laws. For example, if
the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS, formerly called
the INS) discovers that you got your green card through a fraudulent
(sham) marriage, you can be deported.
An immigrant can even be deported for failing to advise
the BCIS of a change of address within ten days of moving. In the past,
the BCIS almost never did anything about this. However, with
increased security concerns, it has begun using this rule against people
it wishes to remove from the United States. To advise the BCIS of your
change of address, use Form AR-11, available on the BCIS website at
www.bcis.gov.
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Since 1989, US green cards began to carry expiration dates of ten (10)
years from the date of issue. This doesn't mean the residency expires in
ten years, but only that the US green card must be renewed every ten (10)
years. If you are a holder of a US green card issued prior to 1989, your
card is permanent, and you don't need to apply for a new one.
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The green card lottery is a new
U.S. green card category
created by the Immigration Act of 1990. The official name of the green
card lottery is the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery. Each year, 50,000
immigrant visas are made available and distributed by random through green
card lottery to people who come from countries with low rates of
immigration to the United States. In general, you can qualify for green
cards under the green card lottery program simply by being a native of one
of these countries.
None of these visas are available for people who come
from countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United
States in the past five years. Anyone who is selected under the green card
lottery program will be given the opportunity to apply for permanent
residence. If permanent residence is granted, then the individual will be
authorized to live and work permanently in the United States. You will
also be allowed to bring your spouse and any unmarried children under 21
to the United States.
As of the year 2002, the only countries not
qualified for the U.S. Green Card Lottery were:
| Canada |
Jamaica |
| People's Republic of China |
Mexico |
| Colombia |
Pakistan |
| Dominican Republic |
Philippines |
| El Salvador |
South Korea |
|
Haiti |
United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its
dependent territories |
|
India |
Vietnam |
Related links:
US immigration information center |
US immigration law | US visa application
| USA green cards | Visa waiver program (VWP)
| I-751 petition
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