It
is the general policy of the USCIS to design the immigration processes in such a
way so that it will be easy for any category of immigrants to realize their
dream. The common dream of these immigrant classes is that of living and
working in the US, for which they should first get a green card. As mentioned
earlier, United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services
has laid out so many pathways for an immigrant to become a green card holder.
All that an applicant needs to do is ensure that he/she is eligible for it and
then choose the most appropriate route for getting it.
Pathways to getting a
green card
The
most favored ways for getting a green card are as listed below
- Family based green card
- Green card through a job
- Green card through Asylee or Refugee status
Apart
from these, there are other ways of getting a green card like, by being victims
of human trafficking; being an US Armed Forces member, through the DV lottery
program etc. The most sought after and the easiest way of becoming a legal
permanent resident of the US is through the family route only.
Getting a family based
green card
Before
getting to know about this specific process, you need to know the general
eligibility criteria required to file in a green card application – You should
be eligible for any one of the immigrant categories that is drafted in the INA
(Immigration and Nationality Act) and be admissible to the US. You must have
your immigrant petition filed in by a suitable sponsor and got it approved. You
must also be in possession of a valid immigrant
visa, which is immediately available, as a result of the approved immigrant
petition.
Once
these are taken care of, you can then move on to the specific instructions of
getting a family based green card. When you have your immediate family members
as US citizens, then you are very lucky. This is because you need not wait
in-line for a visa to become available, which is the case for the general
category of applicants Also there is no limit prescribed by the USCIS for visas
in this category. Ensure that you fall under any of the three categories of
relatives to qualify as immediate relatives.
- You are a parent of a US citizen( In this case, your US Citizen child should be at least 21 years of age)
- You are the spouse of a US Citizen
- You are the child (unmarried) of a US citizen who is under the age of 21.
Any other form of relationship with the
US citizen will not entitle you with the privilege of not waiting in line for
an immigrant visa. However, they will be considered to issue a family based
green card with some amount of waiting time for a visa.
I
preference category –
Unmarried, adult sons/daughters of US citizens (Age -21yrs or
older)
II
preference category (A) – Unmarried
children (Age- below 21 yrs) and spouses of the
Permanent residents
II
preference category (B) – Unmarried
sons/ daughters of Permanent Residents (age- 21 yrs
or older)
III
Preference category - Married
sons/daughters of US citizens, spouses with their
minor children
IV
preference Category - Siblings of US
citizens, spouses with their minor children
The US citizen or permanent resident
should file in USCIS Forms
I-130 which is the procedure to petition an alien relative into the US. This
should be filed in with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
to establish the qualifying relationship of the Citizen or the permanent
resident with the relative. Once this is approved, the USCIS will intimate the
US Embassy in the country in which the relative resides. From here on, it is
the applicant who has to follow up, in order to get a family based green card.
He/she should then file in Form I-485 to adjust to the status of a permanent
resident, based on the instructions of that particular embassy.
