If you want to get permanent residency in the United States, we encourage you to meet with an immigration lawyer and discuss what steps you need to take to apply for a green card. Green cards allow you to remain in the United States and receive benefits afforded to citizens, even if you were born in a different country.
Our legal team understands that the immigration process can seem overwhelming, especially in today’s climate. That’s why we strive to make it as easy as possible for our clients to meet the appropriate qualifying criteria and move forward with their quest for residency. You can trust us to represent your best interests from the start to the end of your proceedings.
You can book a residency consultation with our immigration lawyers today to discuss how you can get permanent residency in the United States and how long that process might take.
How to Become a Permanent Resident in the United States
If you want to become a permanent resident in the United States, you need to apply for a green card. Green cards afford you the right to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation. Fortunately, you can apply for a green card after benefiting from certain types of visas, including humanitarian visas and K-1 fiancée visas.
You can also apply for a green card with sponsorship from a family member or employer. If you’re a refugee or seeking asylum, you can work with our immigration lawyers to secure relevant visas and then push for permanent status.
In some cases, you may even have the right to pursue a green card by participating in a diversity visa lottery. Alternatively, you may qualify for a green card if you’re a certain kind of special person, like a religious worker or investor.
How to Apply for a Green Card
There are a few different ways for you to apply for permanent residency in the United States. You can apply through your family, an employer, as a special immigrant, or by claiming refugee or asylee status. You may also have the right to seek permanent residency if you’re a noted victim of criminal misconduct, trafficking, or qualifying abuse.
The steps you take to apply for a green card will vary based on how you choose to approach your application. Meeting with our immigration lawyers can make it easier to determine what evidence you need to make your case and what deadlines you need to meet.
Most often, our team helps people apply for a green card by:
- Connecting you with someone who can file an immigration petition on your behalf, be that an immediate family member, a more distant family member, or an employer.
- Ensuring that you apply for a qualifying visa, if necessary.
- Filing a green card application with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
- Supporting you as you undergo a biometrics appointment.
- Preparing you for an immigration interview.
How to Apply for a Green Card if You Have a Visa
If you have a visa allowing you to stay in the United States for a specific purpose or period of time, you can file for an adjustment of status to secure permanent residency. We can work with you to file a Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, before your visa expires.
You can alternatively pursue a concurrent filing, which may allow you to file a Form I-485 and a petition at the same time. Our team can discuss this process with you in more detail.
How Does a Relative’s Sponsorship Impact Your Green Card Application?
An immediate relative can sponsor you for a green card so long as the United States hasn’t exceeded its reserved residency limit. Applying with sponsorship from a spouse, unmarried child, or parent lets you move forward with your application without worrying about a waiting period.
If you don’t have an immediate family member available to sponsor you, you can ask your siblings and other parties to speak for you. Working with non-immediate relatives doesn’t let you waive the waiting period that you get to avoid if you apply with sponsorship from an immediate family member, but it can speed up your application.
However, the United States limits the number of green cards it will offer to people who apply for residency without sponsorship from an immediate family member. If you want to protect your chance of getting a green card, make sure you apply as soon as possible.
Your waiting period will vary depending on your application’s categorization, which may be:
- Primarily preferred applications, which recognize green card petitions filed by United States citizens who want to secure residency for their unmarried children.
- Secondarily preferred applications, or green card applications filed by legal permanent residents on behalf of their spouses and/or children, including unmarried children over the age of 21.
- Tertiary preferred applications, or applications filed by United States citizens on behalf of their married children.
- Quaternary preferred applications, or applications filed by United States citizens on behalf of their siblings, their siblings’ spouses, and their siblings’ children.
How Does Your Career Impact Your Quest for Permanent Residency in the United States?
Immigration services also consider a person’s professional qualifications when awarding green cards. The skills that an immigrant can bring to the United States economy can impact the amount of time it takes for immigration services to consider their application for a green card.
Immigration services tend to give applicants with extraordinary abilities first preference when it comes to awarding green cards. Professors, artists, scientists, educators, business professionals, and athletes tend to fall into this category, as do international executives.
Professionals with advanced degrees tend to get secondary preference, while skilled and professional workers get tertiary preference. Religious workers and other “special” categories of immigrants receive fourth preference, while investors investing either $500,000 or $1 million into a United States business receive fifth preference.
What Is the Green Card Lottery System?
While sponsorships and professional ability can impact the speed at which your green card application moves forward, you also have the opportunity to apply for a green card via the United States’ annual lottery system. This system is open to people from qualifying countries with certain professional abilities.
This system aims to diversify the population of immigrants entering the United States. As such, it tends to make itself available to immigrants from countries without a significant population based in the United States.
You can discuss the pros and cons of working with the green card lottery system when you meet with our team to discuss the best ways to get permanent residency in the United States.
It’s Time to Contact an Immigration Lawyer
If you’re struggling to figure out how you can get permanent residency status in the United States, consider turning to the immigration lawyers at Mendoza Law for support. We keep up with changes in qualifying criteria and can help you determine what steps you need to take if you want to secure long-term residency status with as little stress as possible.
You can count on our law firm to represent your best interests honestly throughout your immigration proceedings. We are here to protect you from mistakes that might compromise your residency status while also preventing immigration institutions from misinterpreting the law or wrongfully denying you your right to remain in the United States.
We have served over 100,000 clients and bring more than 100 years of combined experience to your case. Contact Attorney Maria today to meet with a team that can help you streamline your green card application.