United States Permanent resident Card is popularly known as Green Card. This green card facility was made during the year 1977. For a person to be a legal immigrant in U.S. there are certain rules and procedures to be followed. Process of Immigration Green Card through Employment can be time consuming and complicated. Sources show that some people migrate in U.S. illegally due to the complicated process. You need to present the valid visa or national passport with ID proof when you are visiting U.S. as tourist, student, and patient or for business purpose. Visa is just a document proof of legal authenticity for a person to travel in any country. Such a visa can be nonimmigrant visa and fees required for it may be around $300.

Immigration Green Card through Employment can be made available when you fulfill the criteria and government rules. When a foreign citizen desires to reside and work in U.S. he needs to present Immigration Green Card through Employment. This card was initially known as Alien Registration Receipt Card but now known as Permanent Resident Card. This card can be used as a document to petition made by employer for relative residing in U.S. This petition makes way for foreign citizen to enter U.S for professional purpose or residing permanently. Process for getting Immigration Green Card through Employment includes initial paper work verification and petition approval from foreign citizen’s relatives or employer. All these documents are to be approved from National Visa Center. Visa number is made available then green card visa is provided.

There is a limit for providing visa numbers per year. Once you get the visa number, relatives or employer of foreign citizen have to forward petition to U.S embassy for approval. The basic step for applying for a green card is sponsoring relative to submit documents to USCIS. Immigration Green Card through Employment is made available by paying fees of around $190 to $400 total for all documents, photos and forms. Generally additional documents, forms and passports required to be submitted to U.S. government cost at around $500. Entire process for Immigration Green Card through Employment requires two to seven months.

In case petition made is for immediate relatives such as parents and minors then less time is required to get the visa number. Petition can then be sent immediately to the embassy for verification. If petition is for any family member other than immediate relatives such as adults, married children or brothers and sisters then you have to wait until you get the Immigration visa number. This waiting phase can be from few months up to many years. Immigration Green Card through Employment is valid for 10 years. When you reside in U.S for 5 years, you can be a naturalized U.S citizen. Obtaining this permanent residency for working in U.S thereafter requires time, willpower, recourses and patience. Due to complicated process it is not possible for people to get access illegally. Successful legal migration is what the U.S. is known for. Critics suggest that if this process is made simple, it will lead to more illegal access.

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A green card is a pass to stay permanently in the United States. It is an important document for the immigrant. You should take care of the green card, as this is the only proof which can confirm that he is a permanent citizen of the United States. When you are applying for a replacement of green card you should be ready with all the immigration documents. It is a government issued card which represents you the citizen of the United States. Getting a green card is a very hectic process it can even take a year for the issue of green card. Replacement of the green card is not an easy process too.

The authorities will replace your green card with a new one only if the conditions are matched, as these are the main conditions for application of replacement of green card.

• The green card will be replaced if lost, stolen or expired.

• The issue date of the green card was done at 14years of age and there are only 30 days left for your 14^th birthday.

• Incorrect data is entered in your green card.

• The name is changed legally after the issuance of the green card. It can be due to marriage. (Marriage certificate should be represented in the court while submitting the application).

• When you get an actual residence instead of being a commuter resident. The status of residence changes from commuter to actual residence.

• The card issued previously has been not dispatched at your place.

• You require a commuter class and not a permanent status in the U.S.

These are the conditions that should be fulfilled by the individual who is applying for replacement of green card. You should fill up the Form I-90 for replacing your green card. Application fee should also be given at the time of applying for replacement of green card. Important documents should be submitted along the application.

• Previous permanent resident card details or other documents like driving license copy.

• Passport copy or any other document which has your name, signature, date of birth and a photograph attached to the document.

• A police report of lost or stolen green card should be submitted if your green card is stolen or lost.

• Proof of last departure from the United States should be shown, boarding pass will be accepted.

These are the important documents which have to be submitted while applying for the replacement of green card. When the application for replacement green card is filed, it will be reviewed by the USCIS (United States Citizen and Immigration Services). The process is completed when you report to your District Office of USCIS. The application for replacement of green card can take up to 10-12 months as mentioned it is a time consuming process. You will be getting a temporary proof of status from the immigrant authorities. This is given till the application for replacement of green card is not completed. It will act as proof and it will be stamped on your passport. Those whose passport is lost or stolen the immigrant authorities will issue a temporary document which is valid for one year with your photograph affixed on the document.

Whenever you have been called for a job visit and you will be settling in the United States, you will be requiring the permission of the person who is hiring you for the job. The petition takes care of informing all the important associations required during the immigration. USCIS will be informed if you are continuing with your application outside the U.S. through a consulate. You can even continue your filling through the U.S. based USICS office.

Visa petition for green cards takes long time in its process; the waiting list is very long. When your visa petition is approved it establishes your name on the registered waiting list of the limited numbers of green cards category. There is a special list where immediate relatives of the U.S citizen are given the first priority. The important date is that once when your application has been sent for the visa petition. It acts as a number in the waiting list. The day when you send the visa petition is called as the priority date. You can check your status by login into State Department’s website. The priority dates are shown and the day they will be served is also shown in the website. This way you can come to know the exact time and date when your visa petition for green card will be examined. If you have immediate relatives residing in the U.S. consider yourself a lucky person because they have a right to do the application in a different way. If your parents, spouse or unmarried children are there in the U.S. then you don not have to worry much as they qualify for Adjustment of Status as it will be done in a speedy way. It is a process where the green card application can is done without leaving the U.S. All they have to do is to submit the status application to the USCIS with the visa petition. This can save valuable time. As you require a year’s time in waiting for a green card, this application can save months. This option is not available to those who have entered the United States illegally.

Visa Petition for green card has to be filled according to the specification. If your immigrating through a family, marriage immigration or immigration through job. Visa petition for green card can be submitted for these reasons only. It is important to carry all the documents whenever you are visiting the consulate. You should have a back up of all the important documents. Your passport should be a valid and stamped with the correct information. Visa petition for green card is an important activity in getting the green card.

When you are a US citizen and residing in the US desiring to marry an alien or a foreign resident then the alien is eligible for a marriage green card. In this case your spouse will be considered as immediate relative and she or he can obtain a permanent residency. However, to be granted a permanent residency and the US citizenship, living in US has the ability to appeal for admitting your spouse as a permanent US resident. As the time required to get an approval may vary upon the situation of every applicant, marriage green card is being issued in not less than 16 weeks.

Benefits of Marriage Green Cards

One of the main benefits of obtaining a marriage green card before relocating to US is that there is no paperwork to adjust your visa status later on. Due to this green card holders in US will be eligible to quickly start working once they arrive in US without even obtaining an EAD (employment authorization document). This means they have already completed the overall process for registering the green card. To obtain a marriage green card before relocating can even bring a better prospect for you to obtain a US citizenship immediately compared to those people who apply to obtain other kinds of green cards or a visa.

Eligibility Criteria

When it comes to marriage green card, to get a sponsorship for your foreign spouse, you must either possess a green card or be a US citizen. Moreover, you must also try to meet some requirements which include: -

• The couple must be lawfully married and has to produce a legal marriage certificate. Unmarried partners are not eligible for a green card or visa sponsored by a US citizen.
• The party sponsoring the spouse under marriage green card must be above 18 years to support or sign an affidavit.
• Moreover, selecting some documents is also needed which includes the applicants original passport, police clearance certificate, medical examination, sponsor’s citizenship proof, marriage certificate and so on.

Timescales

In case you are a US citizen and your spouse is a foreign resident, the procedure of getting marriage green card will usually take almost 12 to 18 months. However, if you are residing abroad with your spouse being a foreign national, the procedure in this case usually takes not more than 16 weeks. By the way, US residents must normally submit their appeal for obtaining green cards on the basis of marriage while residing in US and should not leave the country at the time of making a petition. In this case, the time required for obtaining green cards is from 24 to 36 months.

Dependent Immigration

Dependents who are under 21 years of age are being included on the application form while applying for a green card. This must be done if these dependents are hundred percent supported by the beneficiaries. In the cases which involve legal joint custody, lawful documents must be provided to make sure that both the parties take the responsibility of the child’s well being they must even be ready to obtain a permanent residence of the child.

An immigration green card or a Permanent Resident Card acts as a person’s proof of being lawfully accepted as a United States citizen. An individual who is a green card holder is given permission to permanently live and work in the United States.  The immigration green card also means that the holder is registered under the United States Immigration law. There are several ways to qualify for an immigration green card. Before applying for an immigration green card it is necessary to consider all options and study them carefully. For instance, a person may be eligible to apply for a green card through a relative who is a United States citizen and also through employment.  The different ways of application process have their own set of rules and eligibility.

It is necessary to understand that processing of green cards take a long time. Therefore if you have options while you are applying for an immigration green card then you must consider each one carefully. For instance, you must understand the type of application that would process faster and has higher chances of getting approved. Owning a green card through employment suggests that the eligible applicant must first be issued a work visa. It is also necessary that the applicant’s company acts as a sponsor. While applying for an immigration green card it advised that you learn and understand everything abut the evaluation and approval process. You must know the best possible way to prepare for the application. The process of the green card application varies depending on the criteria that the applicant qualifies. The processing also depends upon from where the application is being made.

Renewal of immigration green card

Renewal of immigration green card is a very important matter. Green card holders who have an expired green card are considered as out of status under the Immigration Law of United States. Therefore, it is very vital to keep renewing the immigration green card. Green card holders who have an expired green card may be denied entry into the United States. It is very important to keep the card valid and current to avoid further complications. If your green card is nearing the date of expiration then you must immediately apply to renew it. The Immigration Department takes a lot of time to complete the process. If they have pending work then it may delay your process. So if your green card has six months to expire then it is advised that you file a renewal application.

If you have older green card versions then you must renew these and obtain an immigration green card of the new version. In case, your green card is stolen then you must act immediately and apply for a replacement. It is important to update the green card if any changes have been made in your personal information. For instance, if you change your name after marriage or any other reason then you must request for an updated green card. It is important to keep track of your green card evaluation and approval process.

You can submit the application if you have a close relative in United States who is a permanent resident of U.S. The sponsor can be any of your family members including husband/wife, siblings, sons and daughters, step children, parents, and step children. This may be the answer to how to get a green card for immigrants.

USCIS should approve the petition given by your relative or sponsor. The petition should be filed by your sponsor and should include the proof of your relationship with the sponsor. The state department will check the visa number of the immigrant for its validity. If you are living in United States then you can apply for a visa number assigned to you. The status of the visa can be checked from the visa bulletin of the state department. If you reside in USA then you can change your status to a permanent resident under the law. This will help you to secure a visa number for immigrants.

Family preferences

You sponsor and relative should be able to support you for about 125% above the poverty line. You should fill an affidavit in support of your relative which should be presented with the application. The sponsor should a citizen of U.S and should have proper documents that he is a lawful resident. People will be classified into various categories based on the preference system. People having immediate relatives like parents, spouses and children (unmarried) don’t need an immigration visa number. Their visa petition will be approved by the USCIS. The other relatives will have to wait for an immigration visa number before they can proceed. The first preference is given to unmarried children of permanent residents of U.S. Second preference is given to the spouses of U.S citizens. Third preference is given to the married children of U.S citizens and the final preference is given to the siblings of permanent residents in U.S. If you fall into any of this category, then getting green card through family members is a simple and easy process.

The USCIS will notify the applicants about the petition which may get approved or rejected. Family will help you with your dilemma of how to get a green card.

Application guide

How to get a green card through family members can be understood through an application guide. It will include all the application procedures of the relative who is sponsoring for the green card. It will also have interviews along with appeals. You can also know about filing a petition for the application in the U.S consulate board. The guide will include the list of all the U.S embassies along with the consulates. You can find the USCIS offices which are spread among the U.S countries.

The US naturalization process is, by no means, a process which would be completed within a short duration of time. On the other hand, it might take some years (of your life) to have become a US citizen legally. With a green card, you have evidence of obtaining residency on the permanent basis in America. It has been observed that immigrants choose obtaining Green Card via employment. If an individual of foreign origin wishes to acquire green card as he/she has ‘fixed employment opportunity’ in the United States, or if the employer intends of supporting someone to obtain lawful permanent residency on the basis of ‘fixed employment circumstances’ within the US, process to be undertaken involves numerous stages, as per expectations.

To start with, USCIS, i.e. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services require individuals of the foreign origin as well as employers to have put grounds of process to prove that the person applying for Green Card becomes eligible for granting ‘permanent residency’. Thereafter, most of the ‘employment segments’ expect employer of the US to have filed a ‘labor certification request’ for applicant with ‘Employment and Training Administration’ of ‘Department of Labor’. Here, request would receive approval. It might also meet denial, as per the conditions compiled by it.

Thirdly, having obtained Green Card via employment would meet approval from USCIS with regards to an ‘immigrant visa petition’, viz: ‘petition for Alien worker’, for individual wishing to be a part of US naturalization process. The employer willing to have brought his/her employee to US for working here permanently is, in actual sense, the one filing immigrant visa petition as mentioned above. The applicant, then in US naturalization process should expect reception of an immigrant visa number from State Department. Such a thing would happen irrespective of the reality that immigrant is staying in the US or not. When State Department grants immigrant visa number to applicant, it would mean that assignment with respect to the immigrant visa has already been active.

Ultimately, applicant is required to have an application filed to adjust to ‘permanent residency’ status. In case where applicant isn’t yet on US territory, he/she would be required to finish this step of US naturalization process, following reception of notification of assigned ‘immigrant visa number’, at his/her US Consulate office.

Hence, if you happen to be a person of foreign origin possessing outstanding experiences, performances, and unique skills with respect to education, science, arts, sports, or business, you should know that you would be placed at the topmost priority in acquisition of green card in America. Moreover, advanced professionals in different domains, along with individuals having exceptional abilities, also turn out to be eligible for green card. Unskilled, foreign, and religious workers are eligible as well. You should have a talk with your employer for assisting you to obtain Green card via employment in US, that too, permanently.

US naturalization process is amongst the toughest processes of the State Government of the US. In fact, the biggest hurdle in obtaining citizenship of US is US naturalization process.

There are a number of things that you should know about when it comes to participating in the green card lottery service. The green card lottery is one of the best and easiest ways to avail a green card or permanent residence card that would let you legally work and live in the United States. As most of the people are not sure about the application form to participate in the green card lottery scheme it is important that you find some professional help or you can even refer the green card lottery application guide to better understand the green card lottery system.

This green card lottery application guide would basically explain you six different methods to avail green card. However as winning in the green card lottery system is not the only way to avail a green card, you should also look for other ways to get your permanent visa or green card. You can download the provided green card application lottery guide offered by US government so that you learn about the other options available to you.

When you obtain a green card, it would give you the opportunity to work and live permanently in the United States. This green card would be valid for your entire life and the card holders would have the opportunity to even apply for U.S. citizenship after a few years. Therefore the green card lottery application guide would explain you everything about the different options available to apply for a green card some of which are green card through employment, green card through marriage, through adoption, investment and through a relative.

Contents of Green Card Lottery Application Guide

The green card lottery application guide is mainly provided for you convenience. There are several informational facts included in the application guide and are also written in simple language so that you better understand them. This green card lottery application guide includes:

• Overview of green cards
• Process to apply for a green card through marriage, employment, investment, adoption and relative
• The required documents
• Instructions for photo
• Some frequently asked questions
• The list of all the USCIS offices nationwide
• List of all United States consulates and embassies and
• USCIS application forms are also included

Apart from this you can still find more information about US green card lottery application. For this you just have to view the State Department website for more information about this US diversity visa green card lottery guide and the way it works. Apart from this you can also call the visa green card lottery information center of the State department to clarify your researched information. The best way is to contact your nearest United States consulate or embassy who would help in explaining you everything about the green card lottery application guide. You can find a list of all the US consulates and embassies at the website of State Department.

Some important information you should know about the application is that this green card is official called as Form I-551 or as Permanent resident card. The winners of the US green card lottery application are also expected to meet all the criteria of US immigration to avail the card.

General Information

Before your spouse is being issued with a green card or provided a permanent residency both of you have to attend an interview at INS or the Immigration and Naturalization Service Center. You will be literally informed about the date of interview at INS well in advance. The INS officer will usually have the entire file with him which will be reviewed at the time of the interview. When it comes sponsoring your spouse it is always better to have enough green card information so that you are ready during the interview at INS.

There are certain questions which will be asked by the INS officer and may include questions like how did you meet and many more questions. One of the main reasons for the interview at INS is to decide whether your relationship is legitimate or not. The entire interview at INS is videotaped so there is no need to be nervous as there will be questions asked related to the relationship with your spouse. Do not try to volunteer any related information because this interview is almost similar to the police investigation. However, keep in mind that your relationship has to be legal and you must possess all the legal documents regarding your marriage. This is one of the important aspects you have to keep in mind when it comes to gathering green card information.

Do you have the right to appeal?

According to some of the married couples who had undergone the interview at INS, the INS officers usually are strict and at times rude however it is upon the couples how they react to this interview. This is why it is necessary to be well prepared for some of the tough questions being asked by the INS officer. Even if your INS officer is not in a mood to be good to you, try to maintain your temper and answer whatever questions asked to you. If your appeal is legal then you have no problem at all for getting an approval. However, if for any reason your application is not being approved then you have the right to appeal. In this case, you can get some help from an immigration attorney who can assist you in this particular matter.

Secure Your Spouse Green Card Properly

Make sure that you secure yours plus your spouse’s green card properly. Also make sure all the copies of the green card are in good condition. Whenever your spouse leaves for her country you have to ensure she carries her copy of green card so that she is re-admitted in the country on her return. If she misplaces her copy of green card then it will become difficult for her to enter USA without her green card. To get a new green card she has to wait for another two years.

So, when ever you are applying for a green card for your spouse it is better to collect complete green card information. One of the essential green card information’s for you to keep in mind is that at the end of two years the green card of your spouse expires. In this case if both of you remain unmarried, the permanent residency of your spouse also expires. So, she has to reapply for a new green card which will be granted immediately however in this case the duration of this green card will be ten years.

Replace your Green Card Status

Green cards or permanent resident cards are said to be the proof of your permanent residency or green card status with a legal right for working in America. The form number I-551 from the USCIS is a particular certification of foreign registration which is known as green card. These green cards must be in the possession of every American resident with a legal justification at any time as this is the only proof of loyalty towards the immigration laws of America. However, if any American resident fails to obey this rule and is being held responsible for the offense he/she maybe subject to imprisonment or a fine upon conviction.

Reasons to replace your green card status

There are many reasons to replace your green card status and to obtain a new green card, this may include: -

Ø You can replace your green card status if your green card was issued before your age of 14.

Ø You can also replace your green card status if your previous green card was stolen, destroyed, mutilated or stolen.

Ø Even if you were a commuter and at present want to have a permanent resident card in America you need to replace your green card status.

Ø Even when you were a permanent resident of America and at present want to have a commuter’s status you would need to replace your green card status.

Ø When you have a previous version of foreign registration card and want to replace it with the new one then you would require to replace your green card status immediately.

Ø When your name or your biographical information on the green card has been changed legally when you had received you card it becomes legal for you to replace your green card status.

Traveling abroad while the process of replacement is still on

In order to replace your green card status it usually takes three to ten months or normally depends on the information you have provided. However, if you are traveling abroad during this process in undertaken then you have to stamp you passport with I-51 at the INS office. This indicates that you have filed for a new green card. This stamp on the passport is the evidence of your legal green card status. This allows you to travel overseas and re-enter the country as you have already filed for a new green card.

How to check you application status

Once you have filed an application through a mail you are bound to receive a number with a receipt through the mail. This number must be used for tracking all your application status. You can even check you status through online at the website of USCIS or make a call at the USCIS office and get all the useful information about your status. This also includes information such as your date of birth, name, receipt number and the foreign registration number. However, you must understand that the replacing your green card status is really necessary in most of the cases.