Green Card (Permanent Resident)

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Golden Gate, San Francisco
U.S. Permanent Resident Card is commonly known as Green Card. It is issued by the U.S. government to foreign citizens. A Green Card holder is a foreign national who has the right to live and work in the U.S. on a permanent basis. They are four major ways to obtain a Green Card. Most people are sponsored by family members or employers in the U.S., others become Green Card holders through investment, and some may obtain the status through refugee or asylum programs.

Family-Based Immigration

The U.S. family-based immigration policy was founded on the recognition of the importance of family unification. A U.S. Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) may sponsor certain family members to obtain legal immigrant status. There are 480,000 family-based visas available every year. It is the most common way to come to the U.S. and ultimately become a Permanent Resident and U.S. Citizen. Based on the status of the petitioners, family based immigrant system can be divided into two categories: Immediate Relatives and family preference system. 

Immediate relatives are: spouses of U.S. citizens; unmarried minor children of U.S. citizens (under 21); and parents of U.S. citizens (Petitioner must be 21 and above). 

The Family preference system includes: adult children and brothers and sisters of U.S. Citizens (petitioner must be 21 and above), spouses and unmarried children of Lawful Permanent Residents.

Related Topics

Employment-Based Immigration

The United States immigration policy provides many different channels for foreign scientists, scholars, people with outstanding talent, executives, and highly skilled worker to live and work in the U.S. on either a permanent or temporary basis. There are over 20 kinds of different visas for temporary non-immigrant workers. Majority of these visas need to be sponsored and/or petitioned by employers. They are:   
  • L visas for intra-company transfers;
  • P visas for athletes; entertainers and skilled performers;
  • R visas for religious workers;
  • A visas for diplomatic employees;
  • H visas for special occupations (nursing and agriculture);
  • E visas for treaty traders or investors.
The member of permanent employment-based immigration visas can be issued per year is 140,000. There are 5 different preference categories:
  1. Persons of extraordinary ability in the arts, science, and education;
  2. Members of the professions holding advanced degrees, or persons of exceptional abilities in the arts, science, or business.
  3. Skilled shortage workers with at least two years of training or experience, professionals with college degrees, or other workers for unskilled labor that is not temporary of seasonal.
  4. Certain “special immigrants” including religious workers, employees of U.S. foreign service posts, former U.S. government employees and other classes of aliens.
  5. Persons will invest $500,000 to $1,000,000 in a job-creating enterprise that employs at least 10 full time U.S. workers.
There are numerical limits on all of these immigration preferences. There are also limits on how many immigrants can come to the United States from any one country. Generally, member of immigrants from a single country cannot exceed 7% of the total number of people immigrating to the United States in a single year.

Refugee and Asylum

Refugee status is granted by the United States to people who are not able to return to their home countries because of a “well-founded fear of persecution” due to their race, membership in a social group, political opinion, religion, or national origin. Refugees need to apply for admission from outside of the U.S. Upon granting of such status, they will be admitted into the U.S. There are preference and priority categories for refugees based on the degree of risk and hardship they face. The President decides the maximum member of refugees that can be admitted each year. The total number is then broken down into limits for each region of the world.

A person may apply for asylum in the United States. A similar standard for refugee admission applies to asylum. The person seeking asylum must prove wall-founded fear for persecution if returns to home country. Required petition must be filed within a year of arriving in the U.S. There is no numerical limit on number of asylums that may be granted each year, nor are there any categories or preferences on who may seek asylum.

Refugees and asylees may apply for green card (permanent residence) one year after the granting of asylum, or one year after entering the U.S. as refugee.

Investment Based Immigration

There are a few different ways that foreign entrepreneurs/investors can live, work, or even become permanent residents and citizens eventually in the United State. To find out more, please click INVESTMENT.
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