Seven Ways To Get Your Green Card In The United States

The path to obtaining a green card in the United States involves multiple steps, including applying and being interviewed by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). However, if you’re eligible to become a lawful permanent resident in the U.S., you may be able to save yourself time by using one of these options to get your green card sooner.

USA immigration Jul 1, 2022 0 Add to Reading List

Seven Ways To Get Your Green Card In The United States

If you’re currently an international student in the United States, you may be thinking about staying in the U.S., also known as getting your green card, after graduation. While obtaining your green card can seem like a daunting prospect, there are several ways to do it that are within your reach if you plan carefully and work hard on your application. Here are seven ways to get your green card in the United States in 2022.

If you’re planning to move to the United States in 2022 and want to live permanently, then you’ll need a green card first. Fortunately, there are numerous ways to get your green card in the United States, ranging from marrying an American citizen to buying one on the black market and more. Use these seven ways to get your green card in the United States in 2022 to secure your place on American soil.

What is Green Card?

A green card (US) or Permanent Resident Card is an identification document issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). It certifies that a person has permanent resident status and gives them certain rights and benefits, such as permission to work, study, or live permanently in the United States. What are your seven ways to get a green card? More than ever before people want to get their green cards! Hopefully, these tips will help you achieve your goal of getting your permanent resident card.

It’s easy to get your green card! If you are from one of 39 countries that don’t require a visa for 90 days or less (also known as visa waiver countries), then you are eligible to use ESTA. You can visit any of these countries for up to 90 days at a time, but be sure to leave before your time is up if you don’t have a green card yet. Going past your allotted time may get you denied re-entry into another country and have other negative effects on your immigration status.

1). Transfer Your Way In

Instead of a government lottery, why not get your green card through a family member? For example, if you have a sibling who is an American citizen and lives here on a green card, they can file paperwork with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to sponsor you. If you have parents who are U.S. citizens that live abroad, they could apply for an immigrant visa on your behalf—just make sure it's an immediate relative visa, or else there's no guarantee you'll get in before 2023.

One big catch: If applying for adjustment of status or an immigrant visa with USCIS means that you must return to your home country to process your application at a consulate there first, which will delay your permanent residency by two years.

2). Study Your Way In

Studying your way into a green card isn’t easy, but it can be done. A big part of your future success is going to hinge on getting into an accredited college or university.

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When applying for F-1 or M-1 student visas, you’ll need to prove that you have enough money saved up for tuition and housing fees, as well as proof that you won’t need a job while studying. But—and it’s a big but—you don’t get paid to go to school if you are an international student at a U.S.-based institution.

3). Invest Your Way In

Investing a significant sum of money into a business is another great way to expedite your green card application. There are two types of investments: passive and active. Passive investments refer to those you don’t actively oversee, like purchasing real estate.

Active investments can include things like starting a business with an investment partner. Keep in mind that passive and active investments must create jobs if they’re to be considered for a green card; otherwise, you could end up competing with Americans looking for employment!

4). Work Your Way In

If you’re already living in America on a non-immigrant visa, chances are good that you can get your green card with enough time and effort. Provided you don’t have any disqualifying criminal history, show an ability to make a decent living, and have some kind of support system here (family or otherwise), there are dozens of ways to become eligible for legal permanent residency.

If none of them sound promising to you, it might be time to consider moving back home so that you can take advantage of a different country’s immigrant-friendly policies. You may want to start by consulting our guide: Moving From One Country To Another? How Relocating Can Help Or Hurt Your Chances Of Becoming A Resident or Citizen Of A New Country.

5). Marry Your Way In

One of the most common routes to citizenship for an immigrant is married to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, but all too often, people rush into a relationship solely for immigration purposes and then get divorced shortly thereafter. Do you really want to marry someone just because he or she promises to expedite your path to citizenship?

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If so, that’s fine as long as you keep expectations low and are realistic about how much time it might take. You needn’t plan on getting married right away; keep dating until you find someone you actually like who is on board with waiting until marriage before having sex or moving in together.

6). Win Your Way In

Some countries have a lottery for green cards. This can be your best shot if you happen to live in one of those lucky countries. If you don’t, it might still be possible to win a temporary visa or lottery green card if you’re selected as a winner.

Just note that there are only 55,000 lotteries worldwide each year and over 3 million people apply—so, good luck with that. While all sorts of people win lotteries (there was once even an 11-year-old), most are poorer immigrants who need the money more than they need the freedom to travel.

7). Achieve Your Way In

If you have a high-paying job offer, are going to school, have graduated from a U.S. university, or meet other criteria, you can apply for an immigrant visa through a process called adjustment of status. Adjusting your status means applying for your green card without leaving the country first. It's easier and faster than applying for a visa through consular processing.

There are limits on who can adjust their status (i.e., not everyone is eligible), but it's definitely worth checking into if it applies to you—and do so well ahead of time; long lines are common as there are annual caps on how many visas will be issued each year in each category.

Types Of Green Card

Here are the list and explanation of types of green card:

Family-Based Green Card.
Employment-Based Green Card.
Humanitarian Green Cards.
Diversity Lottery Green Card.
Longtime-Resident Green Card.
Other Green Cards.

Family-Based Green Card

One of the most common ways to get a green card is through a family member who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. If you’re from outside of the U.S., there are two ways that you can qualify for a family-based green card: (1) if your spouse or parent becomes a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or naturalized citizen and sponsors you; or (2) if one of your parents was born in any country outside of Canada and came to live permanently in Canada before either of you were born (as long as that parent became a Canadian citizen).

Work in the USA: Work in the USA as a foreigner with a work visa sponsorship

Employment-Based Green Card

Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) accepts I-140 petitions for employment-based green cards from people with extraordinary abilities, outstanding professors or researchers, multinational executives and managers, investors of $1 million or more in a U.S. business, physicians who will practice medicine in an area with a shortage of health care professionals, and certain others.

E-3 Visas: Citizens of Australia can obtain E-3 visas for up to five years if they have worked legally for at least one year during their country's designated period for them (the time when applications are accepted). This is not technically a green card, but it does enable you to get one.

Humanitarian Green Cards

If you’re coming to America with a job offer and want to stay permanently, there are two ways you can do it: through employment or through the family. If you come through a family member, then your application is called an immigrant petition.

There are five categories under which you can apply for permanent residence if your visa petition is approved: immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, unmarried children under 21 years old, and parents); family preference immigrants (unmarried adult children of U.S. citizens; spouses and unmarried minor children of lawful permanent residents; married adult children of U.S. citizens; siblings of adult U.S.

Diversity Lottery Green Card

The Diversity Lottery Visa Program is a U.S. government program that grants permanent residence to foreign nationals from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Applicants must have at least a high school education or its equivalent, or, if a student, have earned at least a 2-year degree, and have no criminal record. It is extremely competitive: for the fiscal year 2022 (October 2022 through September 2023), 12 million people applied for 500,000 available visas.

Longtime-Resident Green Card

If you have been a green card holder (lawful permanent resident) for at least five years and live in one of about 30 states, you can apply for citizenship. Read more to see if your state is on that list. If so, it’s worth considering doing that, especially if you plan to stay where you are for a while.

After all, your green card entitles you to live and work permanently in just that one spot—you can travel outside it with permission from USCIS (if not without), but once you’re out of the country for too long, there’s no guarantee you’ll be allowed back in.

Other Green Cards

While you may only think of marriage or having an employer sponsor you for a green card, there are actually five other ways to get your U.S. green card. These include: getting refugee status; being a victim of crime and receiving protection under VAWA (Violence Against Women Act); applying for asylum because you fear persecution in your home country; making over 10,000 dollars per year and investing at least 1,000 dollars per year into an EB-5 visa; or filing Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, as an employee. If any of these options sound right for you, contact a reputable immigration attorney to begin getting your green card!

Conclusion

There are seven basic ways to get your green card in America. Each category has many subdivisions, and for each, you must follow certain procedures. For example, if you get married to a U.S. citizen who lives abroad and you want to join him or her in America, there are three subcategories under that first category, such as Immediate Relative of an American Citizen: Spouse of a U.S. Citizen; these include (1) Immediate Relative-Non-Immigrant Visa; (2) K-3 Nonimmigrant Visa (for spouses of citizens); and (3) K-4 Nonimmigrant Visa (for children under 21). And so on—seven ways to get your green card! But not to worry!

FAQs

How many types of Green Cards are there in the US?

four categories

There are basically four categories of Green Cards, each one with their separate visas and requirements: Family-sponsored Green Cards – this Green Card is given to you if you have close family in the US and you want to reunite with them.

What are the different types of Green Cards?

Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants.
Green Card for Family Preference Immigrants.
Green Card for an Immediate Relative of a U.S. Citizen.

What are the 4 types of immigrants?

These Are the Four Types of Immigration Statuses in the US. When immigrating to the US, there are four different immigration status categories that immigrants may fall into: citizens, residents, non-immigrants, and undocumented immigrants.

What visa type is a green card?

immigrant visa

Green cards are technically a type of visa that allows for permanent residence. Green cards are issued after arrival in the United States. To qualify for a green card, the applicant must have an immigrant visa already, and applications are made to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).