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Green Card is one of the most important documents that you can get in your life, especially if you want to be either working or studying in this country. Being a green card holder means that you are now allowed to work and study in the United States without any additional permissions. Green card holders must renew their green cards after every 5 years.
Green card is a permanent working permit that the USA gives to green card holders who wish to work and study in this country. These green cards must be applied for before entering the USA, but can also be applied for within the USA if you are a green cardholder.

Once green card holders have their green cards, they can live in this country for as long as they want to without any additional permissions. Green card holders are allowed to bring all of their immediate family members in America with them in green cards, but green card holders must be able to provide for their green card family members.
Green cards are only available to green card holders with H1B, J1, L1, or other work visas. green cards can also be given to green card holders who have married US citizens and green card holders who will invest a significant amount of money in the USA.

Green Card Timeline 

A green card is a document of immigration for US citizenship. It can be obtained through birth, family member sponsorship, marriage to a green-card holder, or through an employer-sponsored green card. In the get green card process people who want to get a green card need to file some forms that depend on the type of green card they are apply for. The following is the Green Card Timeline of how it all takes in the United States.

The first thing in the process for a green card in the united states is applying to be a permanent resident. To do this, a person needs to complete and submit an I-485 form to get what’s called “Conditional Permanent Resident Status.” This status in the inited stats is to be valid in the inited stats for two years. After that, a person can become a lawful permanent resident by getting their Conditional Green Card Status removed. To get this removed they need to file Form I-751 together with supporting evidence and documentation stating that they comply with the legal requirements of the inited stats. The green card timelines in the inited stats are usually about six months in the inited stats, but it may take longer depending on the inited state you live in.

Types of Green Cards 

To come to the United States, millions of people apply for a green card every year. In fact, in 2019 alone over 9 million people applied in hope of one day living in the United States legally and permanently. There are various types of Green Cards that allow you to live in the United States in different ways:

Family-Based Green Card

This is the most popular form of Green Card in the United States, in fact in 2019 nearly half of all people who were granted a Green Card in the United States received one through the family. This can be either immediate relatives or sponsored relatives. family members in the “immediate relatives” category are spouses, children under the age of 21, and parents. The main types of Green Cards that are based on family members include:

Spouses and children – in 2019 over 410,000 family-based Green Cards were given to the spouses and children of US citizens.

Family preference – in 2019 close to 1 million family-based Green Cards were given by a preference system that gives priority to different types of relatives in certain circumstances.

Employment-Based Green Card

the united states of America are the place where the economy is the strongest. As a result of the continuous efforts of the government, the country has been ranked as the world’s largest economy for more than two decades now. In order to keep up the economic growth and sustain the developed status quo, the labor force of the nation needs to be increased regularly. As the economy is the main source of the country’s revenue, the nation needs to pay a great deal of attention to the employment-based immigration process.
In the last decade or so, the United States of America has always admitted more than 6 lakh immigrants every year. For employment and better integrating into the culture and society, there are more than 500,000 applications for the green card submitted each year. The number of applicants has increased by almost 20% in the past 5 years only!

The eligibility of the country’s immigration process is dependent upon many factors like age, education level, and work experience. Once you fulfill these prerequisites, the next thing the immigration officials and the Department of Homeland Security will check is the employment offer letter. Without the latter, the chances of an interview for the green card application are pretty low. If the applicant has a job offer from a company in the United States, it is most likely that he/she will be granted the visa.

Humanitarian Green Cards

In the United States, the process of applying for a green card can be considered difficult and time-consuming as the application is very thorough. Luckily the US does have humanitarian laws in place which allow those who face hardships at home the chance to apply for a humanitarian green card.

The first thing the potential immigrant will have to do is find the right form for the application, the federal form I-360 which can be obtained from any US Citizen and Immigration Services office around the country. The information needed on the form will include the reason the person wants to apply as well as their background including the problems the person has faced at home.

Also, the applicant will need proof that the problem they are facing is not able to be solved in their home country, the best way of doing this is to include official documents from the country’s government that prove the situation.

Diversity Lottery Green Card

Every year the United States sets the limit of Diversity Lottery Green Cards to 50,000. This program is a part of the US Immigration and Nationality Act. The law states that the diversity visa lottery program aims at diversifying the immigrant population in the nation by giving out visas to applicants from countries with low migration rates to the United States. The main goal is to increase the interest in the United States around the world.
To apply for the program one needs to meet the following requirements: have at least a high school diploma or equivalent, have no criminal record except some minor violations, be in good health and not pose a threat to the national security of the country.

The winners of the lottery are selected randomly. Selection takes place every year in the fall, the results are announced the following January (the exact dates depend on the US Department of State). On the day the winners are announced the program starts accepting applications for the next year.
Applicants submit their requests online under the Diversity Lottery Green Card section of the website. The lottery is held every year and the new season starts the day the results of the last ones are announced. Applicants can apply for the lottery up to 90 days in advance.
In some cases citizenship is granted without having to enter the Diversity Lottery Green Card program, however, this requires a petition from a family member or employer, the applicant has to be sponsored by someone.

After the applicant is selected in the lottery, the next step is applying for the Diversity Lottery Green Card. Applicants are required to file the Petition for Alien Relative form along with the necessary documents and pay the fees involved.

Other Green Cards

A green card is a term for the official identification document given to the card’s holder, or a US permanent resident. The green card is the principal evidence that the person is a lawful permanent resident in the United States and has the right to reside and work there without restriction and can also serve as a travel document between any two non-neighboring countries.

In the United States, the green card is the term used for the official identification document given to the card’s holder by the USCIS (the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services). It allows a foreign citizen to work and live permanently in the US. A “green card” also serves as a permanent resident id and the primary evidence the person is authorized to live and work in the United States. Applicants must have been permanent residents for at least five years before being eligible to apply for citizenship.

Longtime-Resident Green Card.

A Longtime-Resident Green Card is a United States permanent resident card that the Department of Homeland Security has the intention to issue to immigrants who have been living in the United States for at least ten years, and who are good citizens. This green card will allow the holder the right to live and work legally anywhere in the country.

Green Card through Refugee or Asylee Status

Some people who were either themselves or are the immediate family members of individuals who received asylum in the United States may be eligible for a green card if the relative’s asylum application was approved.  You may also be able to apply for a green card if the asylum application was approved of the spouse, the child, or the parent of the individual who received asylum. To qualify the relative must have been the person who received asylum or the spouse, the child, or the parent of the person who received asylum.  This also applies to people in these categories if they were granted withholding of removal under the same conditions as the status of the person entitled to asylum and can be found in the previous paragraph.

Green Card as a Special Immigrant

Those who wish to the United States and become permanent residents through the sponsorship of their family or an employer must apply for the Green Card. Eligible migrants may also apply for the Green Card if they have been the victims of certain crimes such as domestic violence, trafficking, and sexual assault when filing the VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) self-petition.

Green Card for Victims of Abuse

In the United States, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) empowers the victims of certain crimes to self-petition for a Green Card. The VAWA allows the victims to receive the status of a permanent resident without the assistance or sponsorship from their spouse or parent, and this special provision is known as the Battered Immigrant Waiver.

The Battered Immigrant Waiver was the first legislated VAWA provision and facilitates the Green Card application for the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The Battered Immigrant Waiver allows the Green Card applicants to file the waiver on their own without the assistance of a lawyer or sponsor, as those who apply for the Green Card based on the visa petition cannot file the immigrant waiver.

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