Greencard:

A Green Card or Permanent Resident Card serves as proof of a person's lawful permanent resident status in the United States.

An individual with a Green Card has the right to live and work permanently in the United States. A person’s valid Green Card also means that he or she is registered in the U.S. in accordance with United States immigration law.

There are various ways to qualify for a Green Card and a person may have several choices on how to apply.

For example, a person may qualify for a Green Card through employment but also qualify for a Green Card through a relative.

In this scenario it is important to understand what type of application will be more likely be approved and processed faster. Obtaining a Green Card through employment means that the applicant must first have been issued a work visa, such as an H-1B Visa, and that the applicant's company must act as the Sponsor for the applicant.

It is recommended to learn about the different criteria of eligibility for Green Cards and to determine how you can best prepare for your application. The Green Card application process is different depending on what criteria the applicant qualifies under and whether the applicant is applying from within the United States or abroad.

Green Card holders have several privileges including:

The right to live permanently in the United States The right to work in the United States.

The right to travel abroad for a certain period of time .

The opportunity to apply for U.S. citizenship after a certain amount of years as a Green Card holder The right to petition for a Green Card for the applicant's spouse and any unmarried children under 21 years of age.

Requirements to Get a Green Card:

Most people will qualify for green card eligibility on the basis of employment, family relationships, or meeting the criteria for the green card lottery system. Check your eligibility for one all of these categories at the USCIS Web site.

Employer Sponsorship Obtaining employer sponsorship for your green card application is one of the more complex green card application processes.

First, you'll need to obtain a job offer from a U.S. company who is willing to sponsor your green application. While most of the paperwork will fall to you to complete, there are points during the process where you'll need the employer's signatures and cooperation in providing additional documentation relating to your employment.

There are three steps that comprise employer sponsorship of your green card:

** the Labor Certification Application,

** the Immigrant Petition and

** the Adjustment of Status.

The estimate timeframe to complete all three steps in this green card sponsorship process is approximately two years.

However, these applications are processed by region so timeframes may be much longer in areas like California or Texas where the immigrant population is high. The Adjustment of Status typically takes the longest of the three applications, but you can begin working after you complete the Labor Certification Application and Immigrant Petition.

If your Labor Certification Application is denied, the green application process ends and you'll need to prove your eligibility for another green card category and begin again. If it's approved, the Immigration Petition is then completed and filed with U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services.

Once the Immigration Petition is approved, you can apply for immediate authorization for work and travel. Finally, you'll submit your application for Adjustment of Status along with the two previous approvals to secure your status as a permanent U.S. resident. In other words, you'll get your green card.

Family, Fiance and Spouse Sponsorship Family, fiance and spouse sponsorships for green card applications often take less time to process than employer sponsorships, but they aren't without their own difficulties.

You are most commonly eligible to apply for your green card in this way if you are: The spouse or fiance of a U.S. citizen Widow or widower of a U.S. citizen who has died in the last two years, but you must have been married to your spouse for two or more years and not have remarried since their death.

A child of a U.S. citizen who is under the age of 21 and unmarried The parent of a U.S. citizen who is 21 or older The process for these green card sponsorships begins with your sponsor filing a Petition for Alien Relative that proves your eligibility for a green card.

While other family member categories are technically able to sponsor green card applications, they are subject to more strict criteria as well as limits on the total number of green cards approved each year for their category and issued each year to immigrants from a single country.

Once your sponsor has filed the Petition for Alien Relative, you'll wait for INS to review your case and make their determination about the validity of your relationship to your sponsor. If the INS approves your case, the final step in obtaining your green card is filing an Application for Status as a Permanent Resident along with your approved Petition for Alien Relative.

Green Card Lottery If you don't have either an employer or family member who can sponsor your green card application, you can participate in the green card lottery, the official name of which is the Diversity Immigration Visa Program. The green card lottery provides up to 55,000 people annually with the opportunity to obtain a green card by way of a random drawing. Qualified applicants do not have to be living in the US already to apply; if you qualify,

you can submit your application while still living in your native country. In order to qualify for this the green card lottery you must meet two basic criteria: You must be immigrating from a qualifying country; qualifying countries have low rates of immigration to the US and you must have your country's equivalent of a high school diploma or two years of work experience in an approved occupation.

Current, detailed information about eligible countries and approved occupations can be found at the U.S. Program of DV Lottery. If you're eligible for the green card lottery, you'll complete your application online and then you'll wait. If you're one of the winners drawn, you'll receive your green card quickly.

If you're not, you can sign up to have your application reentered into the drawing automatically for a nominal fee. Visit the U.S. Program of DV Lottery to take an eligibility test and/or register for the next lottery.  

Citizenship::

The citizenship application process is easier when you have all of the necessary information.

U.S. Immigration Support provides useful U.S. citizenship application information, including eligibility requirements and detailed filing instructions. 

Definition of Citizenship:

Citizenship is the status given to a legal member of the country. It involves rights, duties and privileges.

United States Citizenship: U.S. citizenship is usually acquired by birth when the child is born in the territory of the United States. This is provided under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Naturalization: The process by which a citizen of a foreign country becomes a United States citizen. Order the US Citizenship Application Guide for more information.

The United States offers several ways to become a U.S. citizen:

The three primary ways are:

1. Naturalization

2. Jus Soli, or right of birthplace

3. Jus Sanguinis, or right of blood

1. US Citizenship through Naturalization You may be eligible to obtain U.S. citizenship if:

• You are a foreign national with 5 years permanent residence in the U.S. and at least half that time you were physically present inside the U.S. with no periods of absence over six months.

• You are a permanent resident for 3 years, who is currently married to a U.S. citizen, and has been married to the same U.S. citizen for the past 3 years.

• You have served the U.S. Armed Forces for at least three years

• You performed active duty military service in the U.S. Armed Forces during: World War I (November 11, 1916 - April 6, 1917) World War II (September 1, 1939 - December 31, 1946) Korea (June 25, 1950 - July 1, 1955) Vietnam (February 28, 1961 - October 15, 1978) or Persian Gulf (August 2, 1990 - April 11, 1991)

• You were married to a U.S. citizen who died during a period of honorable active duty service in the U.S. Armed Forces

• You served on a vessel operated by the U.S. and have been a U.S. permanent resident for the past five years

• You are an employee or an individual under contract to the U.S. Government and have been a U.S. permanent resident for the past five years

• Are a person who performs ministerial or priestly functions for a religious denomination or an interdenominational organization with a valid presence in the U.S., and have been a U.S. permanent resident for the past five years

• You are a spouse of a U.S. citizen who is one of the following: A member of the U.S. Armed Forces An employee or an individual under contract to the U.S.

Government An employee of an American institution of research recognized by the Attorney General An employee of a public international organization of which the United States is a member by law or treaty An employee of an American-owned firm or corporation engaged in the development of foreign trade and commerce for the United States

A person who performs ministerial or priestly functions for a religious denomination or an interdenominational organization with a valid presence in the United States Apply for Naturalization

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2. US Citizenship through Birth

• Any child born in the U.S. automatically acquires U.S. citizenship, even if the child's mother was in the U.S. illegally.

This provision does not apply to a child whose parent was a foreign diplomat at the time of birth.

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3. US Citizenship through Parents Even though a child is born outside the U.S.

The child automatically acquires U.S. citizenship if at least one parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of the child's birth

• If both parents were U.S. citizens at the time of a child's birth outside the U.S., and at least one parent had a prior residence in the U.S., the child automatically acquires U.S. citizenship.

• If only one parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of a child's birth outside the U.S., and that parent had previously resided in the U.S. for at least five years, with at least two of those years being after the age of 14,

the child automatically acquires U.S. citizenship. Apply for Certificate of Citizenship
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4. US Citizenship through Adoption

• Children under 18 years of age holding green cards may be naturalized if petitioned for by a U.S. citizen parent. Apply for Certificate of Citizenship - Adopted Child.

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5. Reclaim Lost Citizenship

• Individuals born before 1934 in foreign countries to U.S. citizen mothers, and were denied citizenship because of retention requirements and the law of the day.

• Former U.S. citizens who prior to September 22, 1922 lost U.S. citizenship because of marriage to a foreign national who was ineligible for naturalization

• Former citizens losing citizenship for failure to meet physical presence retention requirement according to law prior to 1978

• Former citizens losing citizenship by entering armed forces of foreign countries during World War II

• Children who lost their U.S. citizenship through failure to meet the retention requirements of the law Reclaim Lost Citizenship

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6. Posthumous Citizenship

• Posthumous citizenship is granted to foreign nationals who died while on active duty service in the U.S. Armed Forces during the World War I, World War II, Korean or Vietnam hostilities, or in other periods of military hostilities.

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7. Doctrine of Constructive Retention

• Individuals born and raised outside the U.S., being unaware of having acquired U.S. citizenship through their parents and have therefore failed to fulfill U.S. residency requirements may claim U.S. citizenship through the Doctrine of Constructive Retention.

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8. Doctrine of Double Constructive Retention

• Individuals with grandparents who were U.S. citizens may be eligible to claim U.S. citizenship under Doctrine of Double Constructive Retention.