What Is A Green Card?
A green card is a permanent residency card that allows a non-U.S. citizen to become a permanent citizen in the United States. Basically, people having a green card in USA are legally allowed to live and work in the country.
Many people, across the globe, wish to have green because it will provide them permanent residency in the USA, and they will be eligible to get citizenship after living for 3 or 5 years in this country. If you also want to live in the U.S. permanently, you must have a green card as well.
Though people can also move to America with other visa programs, this method has a few limitations. People having a non-immigrant visa are completely dependent on their job or their purpose of stay in the U.S. Once it is over, they have to leave the USA and return to their own country.
Life with a green card, however, is totally different.. You can choose the place where you want to live in the U.S. and choose where you want to work. There are a few things that you must know about the green card: The green card is just a nickname; however, its official name is “Lawful Permanent Resident Card.” It has even a more professional name, “Form I-551”.
A person holding a green card USA is known as a “Permanent Resident.” If you want to apply for a green card, you’ll need to contact the U.S. immigration authorities at the “United States Citizenship and Immigration Services” (USCIS).
If you get the green card USA, you must always carry it with you whenever you go outside, irrespective of the purpose.
About The American Green Card
United States is a widely popular country all over the world. Many people around the world seek a chance to visit the USA to fulfill their dreams. The country was founded in 1776, and since the very beginning, it has been a favorite spot for immigrants.
During the 19th century and early 20th century, there were no specific rules and regulations for immigration to the U.S. for most of its parts. Immigrants from all over the world were allowed to visit the U.S. openly.
But things changed after the Civil War when the supreme court of America applied the first immigration restrictions. With the passage of time, different federal agencies were formed to specifically handle the matters of immigration rules and regulations. The concept of the green card USA was introduced during the second world war.
It was created to establish the strict immigration rules and regulations. In 1940, the congress approved the Alien Registration Act. This was the law that laid the foundations of first immigration law requirements that allowed authorities to decide if a person immigrating to the U.S. would be allowed to reside in the U.S. or not.
At that time, all immigrants were checked on entering the U.S. and were issued an identification card. At that time, the name of the identification card wasn’t “Permanent Resident Card.” Rather it was known as an “Alien Card.” Alien’s word was used to indicate that the person having this card was a foreigner and an immigrant.
The first card issued for this purpose was bright green in color, which is why the current version is known as a “Green Card USA”. The federally approved “Alien Registration Act” defined a uniform set of rules under which any legal immigrant in the U.S. was issued an “Alien Registration Receipt Card.”
At that time, when this law was introduced, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was responsible for handling all the immigration matters, including the approval and issuing of these cards. Later this department was renamed the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Today, all the green card matters are handled by this department, and they are responsible for issuing a green card to anyone who wants to obtain permanent residency in the U.S.
How do I get a Green Card in the USA?
Every year, the U.S. state department issues more than a million green cards. The majority of these green cards are given to the family members of U.S. citizens or already green cardholders. They are also given to those who seek employment opportunities in the U.S. Many people have a question in their mind “how can I get a green card USA?”. So let’s brief you a little. Generally, there three ways to obtain a green card:
– Through the workplace.
– Through Family Sponsorship.
– Through the Green Card DV Program.
There are different requirements for all the categories mentioned above, as it is necessary for a person to meet the requirements of the category in which he is selected for a green card.
Getting a green card USA via employment or family sponsorship is a very lengthy and time consuming process, sometimes it may take years to process. Therefore the easiest and simplest way to obtain a green card is through the green card lottery. All you need here is luck, and if you are a green card lottery winner, your dream of having P.R. in the USA can come true.
Understanding The Different Types of Green Cards in USA
As discussed earlier, the U.S. government issues different types of green cards for different purposes. All green cards have their own categories and sub-categories that further have their own requirements. If you are going to apply for a green card, it is very important for you to understand where you fall into the category. Your green card application can be easilyrejected if you apply under the wrong category, so here we provide you details about different kinds of green cards that will assist you filling your application.
If you want to apply for a family-based green card, then you must be a close relative of a U.S. citizen or a green cardholder. The eligible family members who can apply for a green card are children, spouses, parents, and siblings of a U.S. citizen.
This category also covers those widows and widowers that were married to a U.S. citizen when the citizen passes away. It is necessary for widows and widowers to prove that their marriage was authentic, just like the living U.S. citizens and green card holders who apply for a marriage-based green card.
Other family members like cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents cannot apply for a family-based green card. Suppose they want to apply for a family-based green card. In that case, they must apply on behalf of two close family relatives living in the U.S. Further more, if you need any help regarding the family-based green cards or marriage-based green cards, then i-IMMIGRATE can help you complete your green card application and avoid any problems.
If you want to apply for an employment-based green card USA, you must be aware that there are further sub-categories of an employment-based green card. In your application, you have to mention in which category you land. In some cases, your children and spouse may also qualify for a green card. To make you understand, we have prepared a table that gives you details about different kinds of employment-based green cards.
Category | Types of Jobs Included In Category |
Priority workers (EB-1) |
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Professionals with advanced degrees and exceptional abilities (EB-2) |
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Physicians (EB-2 with a special waiver) |
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Skilled, unskilled, and professional workers (EB-3) |
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Special workers (EB-4) |
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Investors (EB-5) |
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Another way to get the USA green card is via the diversity DV program. It’s also known as the “Green Card Lottery” or “Diversity Visa Lottery Program.” In this program, the U.S. government selects almost 50,000 people randomly from six different geographical locations like Africa, Asia, and Oceania, etc.
The main aim of this program is to diversify the immigrant population in the United States. This is why they select people mostly from countries with low immigration rates to the United States in the previous five years.
It is one of the cheapest and the easiest ways to get a green card USA, and this is the reason why millions of people from all over the world apply for the diversity visa program, but only a few of them are actually eligible to get one. If you want to check the list of eligible countries for the green card lottery or know the green card lottery caps allocated to each country, you can visit the official site of the U.S. states department.
Discussed above are the three major categories of the green card, however the U.S. states department issues several other types of green cards, including green cards for “Special immigrant” like media persons, professors, researchers, physicians, and people who served the U.S. government from Iraq and Afghanistan. Other green cards involve Longtime-Resident Green Cards, Humanitarian green cards for trafficking, crime, and abuse victims, green cards for refugees, and green cards for Cuban citizens and American Indians born in Canada.
You can check the list of these green cards on the U.S. states department’s official website along with their requirements. So, on this page, we have provided you all details about a green card, and we are sure that many of your doubts would be clear by now. If you seek professional advice and help regarding any of the green cards mentioned above, then you can contact us through our website. Our experts will not only help you with filling in your application but will also guide you through all the documentation procedures.
