{"id":329,"date":"2008-07-22T12:41:13","date_gmt":"2008-07-22T16:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/temp\/?p=329"},"modified":"2008-07-23T16:48:35","modified_gmt":"2008-07-23T20:48:35","slug":"green-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/?p=329","title":{"rendered":"Green Card"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A United States Permanent Resident Card<\/strong>, also known as a <strong>green card<\/strong>, is an identification card attesting to the permanent resident status of an alien in the United States of America. Green card also refers to an immigration process of becoming a permanent resident. The green card serves as proof that its holder&#8230;<!--noteaser--><!--more--><strong>A United States Permanent Resident Card<\/strong>, also known as a <strong>green card<\/strong>, is an identification card attesting to the permanent resident status of an alien in the United States of America. Green card also refers to an immigration process of becoming a permanent resident. The green card serves as proof that its holder, a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR), has been officially granted immigration benefits, which include permission to reside and take employment in the USA. The holder must maintain permanent resident status, and can be removed from the US if certain conditions of this status are not met.<\/p>\n<p>Green cards were formerly issued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). That agency has been absorbed into and replaced by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Shortly after re-organization BCIS was re-named to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).<\/p>\n<p>An alien with a green card application can obtain two important permits while the case is pending. The first is a temporary work permit known as the Employment Authorization Document (EAD), which allows the alien to take employment in the United States. The second is a temporary travel document, advance parole, which allows the alien to re-enter the United States. Both permits confer benefits that are independent of any existing status granted to the alien. For example, the alien might already have permission to work in the United States under an H1-B visa.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Types of immigration<\/strong><br \/>\nU.S. immigration legislation in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) stipulates that an alien may obtain permanent resident status only through the course of the following proceedings:<\/p>\n<p>immigration through a family member<\/p>\n<p>immigration through employment<\/p>\n<p>immigration through investment<\/p>\n<p>immigration through the Diversity Lottery<\/p>\n<p>immigration through &#8220;The Registry&#8221; provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act<\/p>\n<p><strong>Application process for family-sponsored visa<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Green card holders and nuclear families<\/strong><br \/>\nGreen card holders married to non-U.S. citizens are unable to legally bring their spouses (or families) to join them in the USA. The foreign spouse of a green card holder must wait for approval of an &#8216;immigrant visa&#8217; from the State Department before entering the United States. Due to a backlog in processing, such visas can take up to five years to be approved. In the interim, due to immigration intent, the spouse cannot enter the United States on any other visas not even as a visitor. This puts LPRs in a uniquely disadvantaged situation:<\/p>\n<p>visitors and non-immigrants coming to the USA on temporary visas for work, business, or study (including H1, L1, B, and F1 visas) can sponsor their dependent spouses to travel with them;<\/p>\n<p>U.S. citizens can sponsor their spouses to come to the USA in non-immigrant status; the spouse can then convert to an immigrant status under the Legal Immigration and Family Equity Act of 2000 (the &#8220;LIFE Act&#8221;).<!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p>The issue of LPRs separated from their families for years is not a new problem. A mechanism to unite families of LPRs was created by the LIFE Act by the introduction of a &#8216;V visa,&#8217; signed into law by President Bush. It effectively expired and is no longer available. Bills HR1823 and HR4448 are in the U.S. Congress. The proposal for reviving the V visa is based on something that has little controversy \u2014 family unity \u2014 but passing such a bill into law is not a small matter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Application process for employment-based visa<\/strong><br \/>\nMany immigrants opt for this route, which requires an employer to &#8220;sponsor&#8221; (i.e. to petition before USCIS) the immigrant (known as the alien beneficiary) through a presumed future job. The three-step process outlined above is described here in more detail for employment-based immigration applications. After the process is complete, the alien is expected to take the certified job offered by the employer to substantiate his or her immigrant status, since the application ultimately rests on the alien&#8217;s employment with that company in that particular position.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Immigrant Petition<\/strong> &#8211; the first step includes the pre-requisite labor certification upon which the actual petition will reside.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Labor Certification \u2014<\/strong> the employer must legally prove that it has a need to hire an alien for a specific position and that there is no minimally qualified U.S. citizen or LPR available to fill that position, hence the reason for hiring the alien. Some of the requirements to prove this situation include: proof of advertising for the specific position; skill requirements particular to the job; verification of the prevailing wage for a position; and the employer&#8217;s ability to pay. This is currently done through an electronic system known as PERM.[11] The date when the labor certification application is filed becomes the applicant&#8217;s priority date. In some cases, for highly skilled foreign nationals (EB1 and EB2 National Interest Waiver, e.g. researchers, athletes, artists or business executives) and &#8220;Schedule A&#8221; labor (nurses and physical therapists), this step is waived. This step is processed by the United States Department of Labor (DOL).<\/li>\n<li>Immigrant Petition \u2014 the employer applies on the alien&#8217;s behalf to obtain a visa number. The application is form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker,[13] and it is processed by the USCIS. There are several EB (employment-based) immigrant categories] under which the alien may apply, with progressively stricter requirements, but often shorter waiting times. Many of the applications are processed under the EB3 category. Currently, this process takes up to 6 months. Many of the EB categories allow expedited processing of this stage, known as &#8220;premium processing&#8221;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2. Immigrant Visa Availability.<\/strong> When the immigrant petition is approved by the USCIS, the petition is forwarded to the NVC for visa allocation. Currently this step centers around the priority date concept.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Priority date \u2014 <\/strong>the visa becomes available when the applicant&#8217;s priority date is earlier than the cutoff date announced on the DOS&#8217;s Visa Bulletin[16] or when the immigrant visa category the applicant is assigned to is announced as &#8220;current&#8221;. A &#8220;current&#8221; designation indicates that visa numbers are available to all applicants in the corresponding immigrant category. Petitions with priority dates earlier than the cutoff date are expected to have visas available, therefore those applicants are eligible for final adjudication. When the NVC determines that a visa number could be available for a particular immigrant petition, a visa is tentatively allocated to the applicant. The NVC will send a letter stating that the applicant may be eligible for adjustment of status,<!--nextpage--> and requiring the applicant to choose either to adjust status with the USCIS directly, or apply at the U.S. consulate abroad. This waiting process determines when the applicant can expect the immigration case to be adjudicated. Due to quotas imposed on EB visa categories, there are more approved immigrant petitions than visas available under INA. High demand for visas has created a backlog of approved but unadjudicated cases. In addition, due to processing inefficiencies throughout DOS and USCIS systems, not all visas available under the quota system in a given year were allocated to applicants by the DOS. Since there is no quota carry-over to the next fiscal year, for several years visa quotas have not been fully used, thus adding to the visa backlog.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>3. Immigrant Visa Adjudication.<\/strong> When the NVC determines that an immigrant visa is available, the case can be adjudicated. If the alien is already in the USA, that alien has a choice to finalize the green card process via adjustment of status in the USA, or via consular processing abroad. If the alien is outside of the USA he\/she can only apply for an immigrant visa at the U.S. consulate. The USCIS does not allow an alien to pursue consular processing and AOS simultaneously. Prior to filing the form I-485 (Adjustment of Status) it is required that the applicant have a medical examination performed by a USCIS-approved civil surgeon. The examination includes a blood test and specific immunizations, unless the applicant provides proof that the required immunizations were already done elsewhere. The civil surgeon hands the applicant a sealed envelope containing a completed form I-693, which must be included unopened with the I-485 application.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Adjustment of Status (AOS) \u2014 after the alien has a labor certification and has been provisionally allocated a visa number, the final step is to change his or her status to permanent residency. Adjustment of status is submitted to USCIS via form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. If an immigrant visa number is available, the USCIS will allow &#8220;concurrent filing&#8221;: it will accept forms I-140 and I-485 submitted in the same package or will accept form I-485 even before the approval of the I-140.<\/li>\n<li>Consular Processing \u2014 this is an alternative to AOS, but still requires the immigrant visa petition to be completed. In the past (pre-2005), this process was somewhat faster than applying for AOS, so was sometimes used to circumvent long backlogs (of over two years in some cases). However, due to recent efficiency improvements by the USCIS, it is not clear whether applying via consular processing is faster than the regular AOS process. Consular processing is also thought to be riskier since there is no or very little recourse for appeal if the officer denies the application.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>New fee schedule<\/strong><br \/>\nSince August 2007, the USCIS has assessed new rates for filing adjustment of status. The previous cost was a $325 base fee plus a $70 biometrics fee (for applicants between 14 and 79 years of age) to file form I-485. The new cost is $930 plus an $80 biometrics fee. However, this new fee is a &#8220;package fee&#8221;: the initial filings of form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, and form I-131, Application for Travel Document, are free (whereas the previous costs were $180 and $170 respectively).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A United States Permanent Resident Card, also known as a green card, is an identification card attesting to the permanent resident status of an alien in the United States of America. Green card also refers to an immigration process of becoming a permanent resident. The green card serves as proof that its holder&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-helpful-and-useful-visa-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.asianinny.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}