Green Card Holder
Table of Contents
Non-US citizens are able to gain permanent residence in the United States by acquiring a Green Card. Obtaining a Green Card allows you to lawfully live and work in the US, and eventually qualify for citizenship after three or five years. Most often, Green Cards are given to family members of US citizens or workers from other countries seeking employment in the US.
The different types of Green Cards:
The most common Green Cards are:
- Family-Based Green Card
- Humanitarian Green Cards
- Employment-Based Green Cards
- Long time-Resident Green Card
- Diversity Lottery Green Card
- Other Green Cards
Humanitarian US Green Card
The Humanitarian Green Card is given to qualifying refugees and asylees, human trafficking victims, abuse victims and crime victims.
Humanitarian Green Card for refugees and asylees:
Those who are living in fear of or have experiences persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or social grouping, are able to seek protection in the US by applying for a visa. You can apply for a visa from abroad, coming as a refugee, or from within the US to remain an asylee.
Humanitarian Green Card for human-trafficking victims:
If you are living in the US, lawfully or unlawfully, and are a victim of human trafficking you may apply for a T visa to remain in the US for up to four years. In order to receive the T visa, you must help with the investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators of human trafficking.
To then qualify for a Green Card, the applicant must have physically lived in the US for either three years since receiving the T visa, or for the duration of the investigation – whichever is the shorter period. If you are under the age of 18, you will not need to help with any investigation.
The Family-Based US Green Card
You are eligible for a Family-Based Green Card if you are a closer relative of a US citizen or green card holder. This includes spouses, children, parents and siblings, or the spouses and children of those spouses, adult children and siblings. Spouses include widows/widowers who were married to a US citizen at the time the spouse died. Both spouses of living US citizens and green card holders, and widows/widowers must prove their marriage was authentic.
Extended family members such as cousins, aunts, uncles or grandparents, do not qualify to receive a US Green Card through these relations. You can only apply for this type of Green Card with a closer relative who is a US citizen or green card holder.
Green Card for abuse victims:
Through the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), victims of domestic abuse are able to seek relief by applying for a Green Card. This is available to both genders, adults and children.
Victims of abuse are able to apply for a Green Card without the knowledge or permission of the abusive relative. Likewise, the abusive relative will not be notified of the application, in order to ensure the victim is safe.
Green Card for crime victims:
Victims of ‘substantial physical or mental abuse’ who lawfully or unlawfully live in the US can seek protection by application for a U visa. Applicants for U visas must also help with the investigation and prosecution of criminal perpetrators, such as people committing sexual assault, kidnapping or torture. The application must also be certified by a law enforcement agency.
To be eligible to apply for a Green Card, the applicant must:
- Have physically lived in the US for at least three years since receiving a U visa.
- Not have left the US from the time they applied for the Green Card until USCIS has processed their application (denied or approved).
- Not have refused to help with the investigation or prosecution of crimes from the time they received a U visa, until USCIS has processed their Green Card application (denied or approved).
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Employment-Based US Green Card
There are multiple subcategories of workers who can apply for permanent residence. As follows are the employment-based subcategories and the jobs included in these categories:
Priority workers
- Outstanding professors and researchers
- Jobs in the arts, sciences, education, business and athletics, requiring extraordinary* ability
- Multinational managers and executives
Professionals with advanced degrees and exceptional abilities
- Outstanding professors and researchers
- Jobs in the arts, sciences, education, business and athletics, requiring extraordinary* ability
- Multinational managers and executives
Skilled, unskilled, and professional workers
- Skilled jobs requiring a minimum of two years’ training or experience that is not temporary
- Unskilled jobs requiring less than two years’ training or experience that is not temporary
Investors
- Non-US nationals who have invested a minimum of $1 million – or $500,000 in a rural area or area with high-unemployment – in a new US business creating at least 10 full-time positions for workers
Physicians
- Agreeing to work full-time in underserved areas for a given period
Special workers
- Media professionals
- Iraq and Afghanistan national who served the US government
- Religious workers and ministers
*Extraordinary ability is shown through “sustained national or international acclaim. Your achievements must be recognised in your field through extensive documentation” – USCIS.
**Exceptional ability is “a degree of expertise significantly above that ordinarily encountered” in your field.
Long time-Resident US Green Card
If you have lived in the US, lawfully or unlawfully, since January 1, 1972, you may apply for a green card through ‘registry’.
In order to qualify, you must meet the following criteria:
- Have entered the US before January 1, 1972 and prove this with an I-94 travel record.
- Have not left the US since your arrival.
- Have ‘good moral character’ and have not committed certain crimes.
- Have not committed crimes that would make you deportable, such as drug abuse, smuggling and marriage fraud.
- Have not committed certain crimes that would make you inadmissible for receiving a green card. For example, entering the US unlawfully or staying over six months in the US with an expire visa.
- Be eligible for US citizenship through naturalisation.
Diversity Lottery Green Card
The US government randomly selects up to 50,000 people at random from a pool made up of six geographic regions. This is known as the ‘green card lottery’ or ‘Diversity Visa Lottery Program’. The share of green cards distributed to each country in the lottery is capped at 7%.
Other Green Cards
The US government issues other types of green cards that have not been listed above. This includes green cards for ‘special immigrants’ , such as non-US nationals that have served in an international organisation, or Cuban citizens and American Indians born in Canada.
To see the full information on the other types of green cards available, the USCIS provides a list with eligibility requirements.