How to Get a Green Card (2024)

ISBN

9781413331868

Legal Updates

Number of Pages

272

Included Forms

Your Immigration Companion

1. Types of Green Cards We Cover
2. How Much You Can Do Without a Lawyer
3. Using This Book

1. All Ways to Get a Green Card

1. Family-Based Relationships
2. Employment-Based Relationships
3. Special Immigrants
4. Entrepreneur Immigrants
5. Asylum and Refugee Status
6. Diversity Visa Lottery
7. Amnesties
8. Private Bills

2. Short-Term Alternatives to a Green Card

1. How Do Foreign Nationals Enter the United States?
2. Types of Visas
3. Tourists Who Can Visit Without a Visa
4. The Importance of Staying Legal
5. How to Extend a Visitor Visa
6. Changing Your Reason for Staying
7. What to Do If USCIS Denies Your Extension Application
8. Tips on Filling Out Form I-539

3. Will Inadmissibility Bar You From Getting a Green Card?

1. What Is Inadmissibility?
2. The Possibility of Waiving Inadmissibility
3. Most Troublesome Grounds of Inadmissibility
4. Reversing an Inadmissibility Finding

4. How Long You’ll Have to Wait

1. Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens: No Waiting for Eligibility
2. Relatives in Preference Categories: Longer Waits
3. Dealing With the Wait
4. Can You Predict How Long You’ll Wait?
5. Revocation of a Petition or Application

5. Fiancé(e) Visas

1. Who Qualifies for a Fiancé-Visa
2. Quick View of the Fiancé-Visa Application Process
3. Detailed Instructions for the Fiancé-Visa Application Process
4. How to Bring Your Children on a Fiancé-Visa
5. Marriage and After

6. Green Cards Through Marriage

1. Who Qualifies for Marriage-Based Lawful Permanent Residence
2. Special Rules in Court Proceedings
3. Quick View of the Marriage-Based Green Card Application Process
4. Detailed Instructions for the Marriage-Based Green Card Application Process
5. Bringing Your Children
6. If Your Marriage Is Less Than Two Years Old
7. If You Marry Again
8. Common Questions About Marriage and Immigration

7. Your Parents as Immigrants

1. Who Qualifies to Petition for Parents
2. Who Qualifies as Your Parent
3. Quick View of the Application Process
4. Detailed Instructions for the Application Process

8. Child Immigrants

1. Who Qualifies
2. Definition of “Child”
3. Quick View of the Application Process
4. Detailed Instructions for the Application Process
5. Automatic Citizenship for Some Children

9. Orphan Immigrants in Non‑Hague Convention Countries

1. Who Qualifies as an Orphan Child
2. Who Can Petition for an Orphan Child
3. Preadoption Requirements
4. Starting the Adoption Process
5. After the Petition Is Approved
6. Filing for an Immigrant Visa
7. Automatic Citizenship for Adopted Orphans

10. The Diversity Visa Lottery

1. Who Qualifies for the DV Lottery
2. How to Apply for the DV Lottery
3. After You Win—The Green Card Application
4. How to Bring Your Spouse and Children

11. Your Brothers and Sisters as Immigrants

1. Who Counts as Your Brother or Sister
2. Quick View of the Application Process
3. Detailed Instructions for the Application Process
4. What Happens After Filing Form I-130

12. Refugees and Asylees

1. Who Qualifies
2. Who Is Barred From Qualifying
3. How to Apply for Refugee Status
4. How to Apply for Asylum
5. If Your Asylum Application Is Denied
6. Asylees Can Bring Overseas Spouses and Children to the United States
7. Getting a Green Card After Asylum Approval or Refugee Entry
8. Revocation of Asylee Status
9. Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
10. Deferred Enforced Departure (DED)

13. Military Veterans and Enlistees

1. Which Military Members Qualify to Apply for Citizenship Without a Green Card
2. Which Military Members Qualify for U.S. Permanent Residence

14. Cancellation of Removal: Do Ten Illegal Years Equal One Green Card?

1. Applying in Immigration Court Proceedings
2. Who Qualifies for Cancellation of Removal
3. Who Isn’t Eligible for Cancellation
4. Preparing a Convincing Case
5. How to File
6. Approving Your Application
7. Additional Types of Cancellation of Removal

15. Adjustment of Status

1. Who Is Allowed to Use the Adjustment of Status Procedure
2. People Who Can’t Adjust Status at All
3. How to File to Adjust Status
4. After You Apply to Adjust
5. Interview and Approval

16. Consular Processing for an Immigrant Visa

1. How Your an Immigrant Visa Case Gets to the U.S. Consulate
2. Forms and Documents You’ll Need to Provide
3. Attending Your Visa Interview
4. Approval of Your Immigrant Visa
5. Arriving in the United States

17. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

1. Who Are the DREAMers?
2. How to Renew DACA

18. U Visas for Crime Victims Assisting Law Enforcement

1. Who Is Eligible for a U Visa or Status
2. How to Apply for a U Visa or Status
3. Your Legal Status While U Visa Is Pending
4. Green Card Possibilities After U Visa Approval

19. Acquiring Citizenship Through U.S. Citizen Parents

1. Who Qualifies for Acquisition of U.S. Citizenship
2. Obtaining Proof of U.S. Citizenship
3. Dual Citizenship Between United States and Other Countries

20. Filling Out and Submitting Immigration Applications

1. Don’t Give False Answers
2. Get the Latest Government-Issued Forms and Fee Amounts
3. Tips for Filling Out Forms
4. When Additional Proof Is Required
5. Submitting Photographs for Identification
6. Fingerprinting Requirements
7. Keep Your Own File
8. Tips for Filing Immigration Applications

21. Tracking Your Application Through the System

1. Understanding U.S. Government Culture
2. How to Track Your Application Online
3. What to Do When Things Go Wrong
4. Inquiring About Delays
5. Speeding Up Processing in Emergencies
6. Reporting Wrongdoing

22. Keeping, Renewing, and Replacing Your Green Card

1. Renewing or Replacing Your Green Card
2. When U.S. Immigration Authorities Can Take Away Your Card
3. Planning to Apply for U.S. Citizenship

23. How to Find and Work With a Lawyer

1. Where to Look for a Lawyer
2. Deciding on a Particular Lawyer
3. Paying the Lawyer
4. Managing the Lawyer
5. Firing a Lawyer

Appendix

• How to Access the Sample Filled-In Forms on the Nolo Website
• List of Sample Immigration Forms Available on the Nolo Website

Index

Chapter 2
Short-Term Alternatives to a Green Card

As you know, this book is only about green cards—or, in legal-speak, U.S. permanent residence. However, you probably also know that many people

who want U.S. green cards will never be able to get one. The green card categories are very limited, and the application process is hard to get through successfully. That’s why this chapter will briefly tell you about other—sometimes easier—ways to come to the United States, even if it’s for a shorter time.

RESOURCE
Want to learn more about the ways to stay temporarily in the United States? See U.S. Immigration Made Easy, by Ilona Bray (Nolo).

A. How Do Foreign Nationals Enter the United States?

The basic rule is that most people may enter the United States only after receiving permission from the U.S. government, through the U.S. embassy or consulate in their own country. The permission or authority to enter the United States is called a “visa,” and is stamped in your passport by the U.S. consul. A major exception is if you are eligible to enter under the Visa Waiver Program; see discussion in Section C, below.

If you enter the United States without permission, without a visa or a visa waiver, and without being examined by the immigration authorities, you are called “undocumented” within the immigration laws and an “illegal alien” by the general public.

B. Types of Visas

There are two kinds of visas an alien can receive from the U.S. embassy or consulate: an immigrant visa and a nonimmigrant visa.

1. Immigrant Visas

Just to avoid confusion, we should mention that even those people who are in the process of getting a green card, as discussed in the rest of this book, must get a physical visa first if they’ll be arriving from another country. They receive what is called an “immigrant visa.” They receive the actual green card only after they have arrived in the United States and claimed their permanent residency. People who apply for their green cards from within the United States must also be allocated a visa number, although they’ll never see or receive a physical visa.

2. Nonimmigrant Visas

Nonimmigrant visas are the main topic we’ll introduce you to in this short chapter. A non-immigrant visa gives you the ability to stay in the United States temporarily with limited rights.

A visa that expires in a few years is probably your second choice, given that you’re reading a book on green cards. However, a nonimmigrant visa might serve you in two ways. First, it might allow you to legally visit the United States in order to decide whether you really want a green card, or to make a decision that will lead to your getting a green card. For example, a person might come to the U.S. on a tourist (B-2) visa to visit a U.S. citizen boyfriend or girlfriend and find out whether getting married seems like a good idea.

Second, a nonimmigrant visa might be your only choice for the moment. If your research, using this book and other resources, leads you to believe that you don’t qualify for a green card, then a nonimmigrant visa might allow you to at least live in the United States for a while, developing U.S. contacts or job skills, hoping that a green card opportunity will open up.

Unfortunately, nonimmigrant visas aren’t only short-term solutions, but they restrict your life in the United States in other ways. For example, a visitor visa (B-2) doesn’t allow you to work. A student visa (F-1 or M-1) doesn’t allow a student to stop studying in order to work. A temporary worker’s visa (H-1B), given to a professional worker such as an accountant or engineer, doesn’t authorize one to change employers without permission.

3. Nonimmigrant Visa Classifications

You will often hear visa classifications referred to in shorthand by a letter followed by a number. The following table summarizes the nonimmigrant visa classifications available.

4. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

Another short-term alternative to a green card came not in the form of a visa, but as a special program to prevent deportation of people who came to the U.S. when they were very young, and had attended school and otherwise made the U.S. their home. Instituted by President Obama, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA program’s future now is embroiled in lawsuits, following attempts by President Trump to cancel it. At the time this book went to print, current DACA holders could renew their status, but no new applications were being accepted. Congress also occasionally considers passing legislation to grant legal status to DACA recipients (also called “DREAMers,” a name drawn from the title of long- promised Congressional legislation) but so far has still failed to come to any agreement.

5. Nonimmigrant U Visa Can Lead to a Green Card

One of the visas mentioned on our summary table bears further explanation. The U visa, for people who have been the victims of crimes in the U.S. and suffered as a result, and who are cooperating with law enforcement officials, can ultimately lead to a U.S. green card. For that reason, we cover it in Chapter 18 of this book.

C. Tourists Who Can Visit Without a Visa

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) allows the citizens of certain countries—that the Department of State (DOS) chooses, based on low rates of visa overstays or abuse—to visit the United States for 90 days without first having a tourist visa stamped on their passports.

1. What You’ll Need for VWP Travel

At the moment, 40 countries participate in the VWP. If you’re from one of these countries, and wish to enter the U.S. without a B visa, you’ll need to get these things first, before starting your trip:

• A passport meeting U.S. government requirements. This means an electronic passport with an integrated chip (e-passport) that is valid for six months past your expected stay in the United States.
• A ticket for both your arrival to and departure from the United States. Your arrival ticket needs to be with an airline or boat company that is authorized to carry VWP passengers. The exception is if you’ll be entering via Canada or Mexico, in which case, no departure ticket is required.
• Prior U.S. government authorization. You’ll do this through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), online at https:// esta.cbp.dhs.gov. You can apply at any time prior to travel. There is a processing charge of $21. Authorizations are generally valid for up to two years, or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. If you don’t receive authorization, you’ll need to apply for a nonimmigrant visa at a U.S. embassy or consulate.
• Entry fee. Travelers arriving at a land border (from Canada or Mexico) will be required to pay an entry fee.

CAUTION
Nationals of or visitors to countries with ties to terrorism can’t use the VWP. Congress has prohibited its use by nationals of or recent visitors to “high-risk” countries with ties to terrorism. Nationals of a country on the terrorism watch list who carry the passport of another country that is on the VWP list would thus be excluded from VWP travel. There are minor exceptions, including for people performing military service in a country of concern, or based on law enforcement or national security interests. This isn’t an outright prohibition on U.S. entry: People who can’t travel on the VWP can still apply for a visitor visa at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

Example: You want to visit the United States for two months. If you live in a country that is included in the VWP, you first make sure your passport meets U.S. requirements, then get authorization to travel by filling out the online ESTA application, and then buy your round-trip plane ticket to the United States. You don’t need to visit a U.S. consulate to get a tourist visa. You might, however, upon arrival in the U.S., be asked to show your departure ticket as evidence that you are simply visiting and that you will return to your country within the 90-day limit.

2. VWP-Eligible Countries

Under the Visa Waiver Program, citizens of the following countries who can present a machine- readable passport are exempted from getting visas before entering the United States:

To be included in the Visa Waiver Program, the country must have:

• a very low rate of refusals of tourist visa applications, and
• few violations of U.S. immigration laws.

In short, countries whose citizens are least likely to stay too long or work illegally in the United States are most likely to be included in the Visa Waiver Program.

D. The Importance of Staying Legal

If you enter the United States as a tourist, student, temporary worker, entertainer, or in any other nonimmigrant category, your chances at a future green card depend on your maintaining your legal status and not violating the conditions of your stay in the United States. Don’t overstay the time limits of your visa (usually shown on a Form I-94). Don’t work when you aren’t authorized to work. Don’t change schools or employers without first requesting and receiving permission from U.S. immigration authorities.

The consequences for breaking the rules controlling immigration can be quite serious: You could be detained in an immigration jail; removal proceedings could be started against you; and, if deported, you could be barred from returning to the United States for the next 5 years or more.

Even if you aren’t deported, if you overstay by 180 days (around 6 months) and then leave the United States, you will have to remain outside for three years before being admitted again. If you overstay by 12 months and then leave, the waiting period is 10 years before you will be allowed to return. (See Chapter 3.)

More to the point, by obeying the law, you can make use of almost all the ways enumerated in this book to stay in the United States, as long as your current status is legal.

If you are running out of time on a permitted stay, one possibility is to apply to extend it (if you can show a good reason for needing more time) or to change your status, for example from tourist to temporary worker. You can apply for extensions or changes of status only (in most cases) if your current immigration status is legal, you aren’t overstaying a visa, and you haven’t worked illegally.

If, instead, you overstay, your visa will be automatically void—even if it is a multiple entry, indefinite visa. You will then be required to apply for a new visa at the U.S. consulate in your home country, unless you can prove “exceptional circ*mstances.”

If there is some issue in your case, or if you need to change status, seek professional advice from an experienced immigration lawyer. (See Chapter 23.) Don’t depend on advice from your friends or relatives, or worse, information on the internet.

E. How to Extend a Visitor Visa

Temporary business or tourist visitors—those who hold B-1 or B-2 visas—once admitted to the United States, can apply for an extension of stay. The basis can be business circ*mstances, family reasons, or any other good reason consistent with your visa.

For example, a tourist who decides to visit different locations or to spend more time with relatives can seek an extension. (See the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov for filing details and addresses; you may file electronically on the USCIS website or by mail.)

The application must include the following:

• Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status
• a copy of your Form I-94, which you (unless you’re one of the few people who received a paper I-94 card when entering the U.S.) will need to download from the S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website at https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov
• a filing fee (currently $420 for an online filing and $470 if submitting on paper); either personal check or money order will be accepted
• a company letter or other supporting documentation stating the reason for the extension request—for example, more business consultations, ongoing medical reasons, extended family visit with a complete itinerary, or another reason
• evidence to show that the visit is temporary— particularly, evidence of continued overseas employment or residence and a return plane ticket, and
• evidence of financial support, such as a bank letter including amounts in accounts. You can also have a family member promise to support you, by filling out USCIS Form I-134, available at www.uscis.gov/i-134.

Also attach an itinerary or a letter explaining your reasons for requesting the extension.

The extension might not give you as much time as you’d like. Extensions of more than six months are rare. However, you are legally allowed to stay until USCIS makes a decision on your extension.

USCIS recommends that you file for an extension at least 45 days before the expiration date of your stay, which is shown on your Form I-94. If you procrastinate, at least try to file the request for extension 15 days before the expiration date shown on your Form I-94.

F. Changing Your Reason for Staying

If you wish to request a change of status from one immigration category to another or apply for a green card, be aware that applying for the change within the first three months after arriving in America could lead to USCIS denying your application based on the theory of “preconceived intent.” Preconceived intent simply means that you lied about your reasons for coming to the United States.

For example, if you attempt to change your status from B-2 tourist to H-1B specialty worker soon after arriving in the United States, USCIS could conclude that you had the preconceived intent of working in the United States when you applied for a tourist visa from the U.S. embassy or entered the United States. Your failure to reveal your actual reason for going to the United States could be considered fraud.

A similar problem can arise for people who want to study in the U.S., but sensibly want to visit some schools and see whether they like them before going through the hassle of filling out application forms. You might think the logical thing would be to come as a tourist and then, after choosing a school, apply for a change to student status.

However, logic and the immigration laws don’t always match up. USCIS may deny this type of applicant’s request to change status, saying that they lied about their intention to be a tourist (the real, secret intention having been to become a student).

Fortunately, this is one of the few immigration law traps that one can sometimes get around with advance planning. If, when applying for your tourist visa, you tell the U.S. consular official that you might wish to change to student status after looking around, then you can have a “prospective student” notation made in your tourist visa. After that, you’ll be free to apply to change status without worrying that it will look like you lied.

G. What to Do If USCIS Denies Your Extension Application

If USCIS denies your request for an extension of your stay in the U.S., you could contest the denial. However, this will require help from an experienced immigration lawyer. (See Chapter 23.)

It might be easier to leave the U.S. and apply for a new visa from overseas. This is far safer than staying in the U.S. illegally.

H. Tips on Filling Out Form I-539

Most of Form I-539 is self-explanatory; see the filled-in sample at www.nolo.com/back-of-book/GRN.html. However, on Part 4 of Form I-539, Additional Information, Questions 3 through 15 can act as time bombs if you answer “yes” to any one of them—that is, they could prove fatal to your application. (In the case of 14, however, you’ll be okay if your employment was undertaken while you had a work permit (EAD) from USCIS.)

Don’t lie and misrepresent your answer as “no” when the truthful answer is “yes.” But if you have to answer “yes” to any of these questions, it is best to consult with an immigration lawyer or another experienced immigration professional first.

Example: The third question on this part of Form I-539 is: “Are you, or any other person included on the application, an applicant for an immigrant visa?” Answering “yes” is problematic, because it raises the possibility that you don’t have the “nonimmigrant intent” required for a temporary U.S. stay—that is, that you are secretly looking for a way to stay in the U.S. until your green card comes through. Don’t answer “no” if, for example, your U.S. citizen brother filed a relative I-130 petition for you, even if it was 10 years ago, and your immigrant visa is still pending. In all probability, USCIS would discover your fraudulent answer, and you might never get your green card as a result.

We hope you enjoyed this sample. The complete book is available for sale here at Nolo.com.