How To Apply Green Card?
What is a Green Card?
A Green Card, or Permanent Resident Card, is a permanent visa for the USA. A green card gives you the status of a permanent resident along with legal rights to work in the USA. Once you have a green card, you may apply for USA citizenship after a few years of staying in the USA. The green card does not affect your present citizenship status.
There are 5 main ways an individual can obtain permanent residency or green card for the United States:
• Green Card through Employer (Employment Based Green Card: EB1, EB2, EB3 Green Card Categories)
• Investment-Based Green Card
• Family Based Green Card (including Marriage-Based Green Card)
• Green Card Lottery
• Green Card through Asylum & Refugee status
Green Card through Employment
An employer can sponsor its employee's Green card. It is a multi-step process, involving certain document work confined by a few rules and regulations.
There are few categories for granting permanent residence to the foreign nationals, based on employment skills.
Employment based green card categories are:
EB1, EB2, EB3, EB4, EB5.
Most of the technical workers fall under first 3 categories.
i) EB1: employee with extraordinary ability in the science, arts, education, business or athletics, professors, researchers, and Ph.D. holders etc. falls under this category.
It also includes people working in US as managers and executives on international transfer basis (Company transfer L1 holder)
(ii) EB2: This includes employee with extra ability in the field of science, arts or business, and advanced degree professionals (PG. degree holder).
(iii) EB3: This includes professionals with Bachelor/ Graduate degree and other skilled workers.
Learn more about each of the employment-based green card categories:
• EB1 First Preference
o EB-1A Extraordinary Ability
o EB-1B Professors and Researchers
o EB-1C Executives and Managers
• EB-2B Exceptional Ability
• EB3 Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers
• EB4 Special Immigrants
• EB5 Immigrant Investor
The employment-based green card is a 4 step process:
It's a sequential stepwise process.
Step 1: Labor Certification
Application (ETA-750) submission through your employer to DOL (Department of labour).
Step 2: Petition for immigration I-140
Your employer files Application (I-140) to INS.
Step 3: Adjustment of Status (I-485) OR Consular Processing
File I-485 and other supporting documents with INS, for yourself and family within the USA.
At this time you can also file for EAD (Employment Authorization Document) and AP (Advance Parole or Travel Document), once you file for 485, you will be required to do fingerprinting.
In this case Step 2 and 3 can go parallel, known as concurrent filing, however, 485 can't be approved without the approval of I40.
OR
Take consular processing Interview at a US Consulates in your Home Country.
Step 4: Finally
Get the stamping in your passport and Receiving the Plastic card.
Note: The overall process is time-consuming, as it involves formalities and a great deal of paperwork. It is granted against per year Quota/per country/per category. Originally, a major constraint was that a person applying for a green card needed to stick with the company, through which his/her green card was getting processed, until the green card was issued, otherwise the process would be disrupted, and he/she would have to resubmit a fresh application from the beginning. This rule, however, has changed: As of January 17, 2017, employers will no longer be able to revoke I-140 petitions from employees who have held them for more than 180 days, even if their services have been terminated.
Note- If you have any questions please comment bellow