U.S. immigration rules are designed to provide newcomers with a variety of options for obtaining a green card.
The path to obtaining a green card depends on the category you fall into.
10 Ways To Get Your USA Green Card
Obtaining a Green Card Through Employment
It is not just for your business, this category of the green card is quite broad.
Green card opportunities can also be obtained through investments or by having a specialized profession.
Permanent positions
If you have a job offer for a permanent position in the United States, your company can be part of your green card application.
The first step is for your employer to obtain a labor certification from the U.S. Department of State and complete the USCIS Form I-140 (Immigrant Petition for an Alien Worker).
Enter The Country By Getting Married
To obtain a green card in this manner, a foreign citizen must be sponsored by an immediate relative who is at least 21 years old and who is either a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident of the United States.
Marriage is a common way to do this, but the marriage must be real and not solely for immigration purposes. In fact, there are two kinds of family-based immigrant visas, to speak more broadly about this way of immigrating:
Family Visas
These visas are for specific, longer-distance family relationships with a U.S. citizen, as well as for certain defined relationships with a lawful permanent resident.
These applications take a long time to process, even years or decades. The number of immigrants in these categories is regulated each fiscal year.
Close Relatives (Parents)
There is no limit to the number of immigrants in these categories each fiscal year. These visas require a close family relationship with a U.S. citizen, such as a spouse, child or parent.
Processing is quick and usually takes about a year.
Green Card By Family Bias
If you have a close family member who is a U.S. citizen or green card holder, he or she can apply for legal permanent residence in the United States.
This is the fastest and most common method of obtaining a green card. U.S. citizens are allowed to petition for immediate relatives, such as:
- Spouses
- Parents of U.S. citizens over the age of 21
- Unmarried children under the age of 21.
Investing Money
Currently, the EB-5 direct investment program allows immigrant investors to obtain a green card by investing as little as $500,000 in their business and creating 10 new jobs.
This is a transitional opportunity that will most likely end before the end of the year, with the amount needed increasing to $900,000 as before. The regional center variant of this program is currently closed and awaiting reopening by Congress.
Being a Refugee or an Asylee
Immigrants who arrived in the United States as refugees or asylees may apply for a green card one year after their arrival. This also applies to close family members of asylees.
Make Your Way Inside
Take the example of Toyota sending its manager to Tokyo to run the company’s New York office. This is a perfect example of a business-to-business transfer that can lead to a green card. Your petitioning employer must be based in the United States and intend to hire you as a manager or executive.
The petitioner must exist in the U.S. as a legal business for at least one year and have a qualified relationship with the entity that recruited you from abroad as an executive or manager. Since no labor certification is required, this is a very attractive option for obtaining a green card.
Work It Out
Either apply for an H1B work visa and subsequently, labor certification to obtain a green card, as in the case of the student, or apply for an EB-2 exceptional worker green card on the basis of a national interest waiver. If their employer applies for labor certification and sponsors them to obtain a green card, H-1B applicants who provide services in a specialized occupation, and capabilities related to a Department of Defense cooperative research and development project, or services as a fashion model of distinguished merit or ability may obtain a green card.
Again, this is a lengthy process that begins with a lottery in most H1B cases and is capped at a certain number of people each year. However, there is no numerical restriction if the employment is related to a college, a college-affiliated nonprofit, a nonprofit, or an organization that needs the H-1B employee to work in any of the first three types of businesses. However, the H1B visa route is the least preferred option for obtaining a green card.
An EB-2 application has the advantage of allowing you to apply for a green card without having to wait for a job offer.
You must also meet the national interest waiver criteria, which involves demonstrating that the proposed business has both substantial merit and national significance, that you are well positioned to advance the proposed business, and that it would be beneficial to the United States to waive the normal requirements of a job offer, namely a labor certification.
Inquire at
Optional practical training, a one-year graduate employment visa, will be available to you. Get a student visa to study at a U.S. university for a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
After one year, ask your boss to file an H1B work visa on your behalf. Then encourage your boss to file a labor certification with the Department of Labor, indicating that no U.S. worker is ready, willing or able to fill the position.
Then, through the Department of Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Service, apply for a green card. This is a long, winding, and painful road, but for many applicants, especially those with talent but little money to invest and no relatives in the U.S., this may be their only choice.
Entering Through the Back Door
Apply for a green card through the annual Diversity Green Card Lottery, which selects 55000 people each year to immigrate to the United States.
These are applicants from countries that are underrepresented in terms of immigration to the U.S., such as Fiji, Estonia or Ukraine. In any case, the applicant’s closest family members are also granted a green card.
Since the above descriptions are extremely general, it is worthwhile to take a closer look at all the options chosen in order to know all the specifics.
Make Your Way
People who have received world-renowned honors such as the Oscar, Grammy or Pulitzer Prize, or who have reached the pinnacle of their profession or vocation are usually included.
Follow in the footsteps of international success stories such as Drake and Ryan Renolds, who have received green cards for their achievements. Generally, applicants with exceptional talents are celebrities in their field.
