Getting a Green Card

The term "green card" refers to the document that grants an immigrant lawful permanent residence in the United States. There are two main channels for pursuing a green card: through an employer, or through a family member who has lawful permanent resident status in the United States. Immigrants may also participate in the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) program, also known as the "green card lottery," to gain a green card. After holding a green card for five years, or for three years if married to a US citizen, an immigrant is eligible for US citizenship via the process of naturalization.

Brief History

The first broadly restrictive immigration law in the United States was the Immigration Act of 1917, which Congress passed over the veto of President Woodrow Wilson. The act barred all immigration from certain countries, including all Asian countries other than Japan or the Philippines. (Japan had agreed to limit the number of its citizens immigrating to the United States, and the Philippines was a US colony.) It also detailed many other "classes of aliens" who would likewise be barred, including alcoholics, anarchists, prostitutes, polygamists, "feeble-minded persons," and people with epilepsy or tuberculosis. Another provision of the act was the introduction of a literacy test for prospective immigrants over the age of sixteen, although immigrants fleeing religious persecution were exempt from the test. The act also increased taxes on immigrants and established a penalty and fee system for those who violated its laws.

In 1921, Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, which instituted a national origins quota restricting the annual number of immigrants from each country. The quota system was based on the existing population of foreign-born US residents: a maximum of 3 percent of the number of US residents from a given country, as determined by the 1910 US Census, was allowed to emigrate from that country per year. Notably, this system did not apply to immigrants from most countries in the Western Hemisphere.

The Immigration Act of 1924 further reduced the national origins quota, restricting it to 2 percent of the established foreign-born US population as of the 1890 census. It also prohibited the admission of any potential immigrants who were ineligible for US citizenship, which effectively barred all immigration from Asia—Japan and the Philippines included—as previously passed laws had restricted citizenship to people of white or African descent only.

In 1940 Congress passed the Alien Registration Act, also known as the Smith Act, partly in response to the growing tensions in Europe that had preceded the outbreak of World War II. The act required all adult noncitizen residents of the United States to register with the government and established federal penalties, including deportation, for attempting, promoting, or knowingly being associated with the overthrow of the government.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1952, also known as the McCarran-Walter Act, ended racial restrictions on immigration and introduced more individual qualitative restrictions. It maintained a national origins quota system, with 1920 as the new baseline census year, although relatives of US citizens and those with special skills were exempt. The INA was amended in 1965 to abolish the national quota system altogether, although it did introduce an overall quota of 170,000 immigrant visas issued per year. Instead, immigration applicants were evaluated on a case-by-case basis, retaining the INA’s preference for skilled workers and family members of US residents. The 1965 amendments changed the landscape of US immigration and led to a new influx of immigrants from Asia and Latin America, as well as Africa, eastern Europe, and the Middle East.

The Immigration Act of 1990 further amended the INA, raising the annual overall quota to 700,000 until 1994 and then 675,000 thereafter. It also introduced the Diversity Immigrant Visa program and expanded the employment-based immigration system.

Throughout US history, the government has overseen immigration through a variety of government offices and departments. The Office of the Superintendent of Immigration was created in 1891 as part of the Treasury Department. It was renamed the Bureau of Immigration four years later. The bureau was transferred to the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903 and shortly thereafter became the Bureau of Immigration and Nationalization. In 1913, the Department of Labor was separated from the Department of Commerce and took control of the newly disjoined Bureau of Immigration and Bureau of Naturalization. The two bureaus remerged in 1933 to form the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) within the Department of Justice. In 2003, the INS was disbanded and replaced with three different agencies within the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS): US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Overview

An immigrant may be granted a green card through a variety of channels. The two main ways of acquiring a green card are through employer sponsorship and family sponsorship. Immigrants who receive an offer of permanent employment in the US can have their employer file an Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker (I-140) form with USCIS. In some cases, an employer may sponsor an immigrant who is already living and working in the United States on a student or work visa.

In addition, employment-based green cards may be granted to immigrants who work in certain specialized fields or who self-petition on the basis of "extraordinary abilities" or national interest. Specialized categories of workers that may qualify for green card status include religious workers, broadcasters, employees of international organizations, and Afghan or Iraqi nationals who have worked as translators or otherwise assisted the US government in some way. Self-petitioning on the basis of extraordinary ability is reserved for people who are "the best of the best in their field," such as Nobel Prize winners, well-known entertainers, or internationally recognized athletes. Alternatively, an immigrant may self-petition on the basis of a National Interest Waiver. To receive a National Interest Waiver, an immigrant must work in an area of "substantial intrinsic merit" that is national in scope. One way to meet this requirement is to demonstrate that one’s work will generate jobs for US workers.

An immigrant may also be sponsored by a family member who is a US citizen or permanent resident. In this case, the sponsoring family member must file a Petition for Alien Relative (I-130) form with USCIS. The best way to qualify for a family-based green card is to be a citizen’s "immediate relative"—that is, a spouse, parent, or unmarried child under the age of twenty-one. In the interest of promoting family unity, USCIS offers special priority status and an unlimited number of visas for immigrants in these categories.

An immigrant who does not qualify as an "immediate relative" of a US citizen may also be sponsored if he or she is the married or adult (over twenty-one) child or the sibling of a citizen. There are a limited number of visas available for immigrants in these categories, so there will most likely be a waiting period.

For an immigrant who is the spouse or unmarried child of a noncitizen permanent resident, the procedure is much the same as for a citizen’s non-immediate relative. Such an immigrant’s visa priority will be below that of a citizen’s unmarried adult child but above that of a citizen’s sibling or married child.

Prospective immigrants living outside the United States may attain permanent resident status via consular processing. In consular processing, USCIS works with the Department of State (DoS) in order to process the immigrant through a US consulate in his or her home country. Once a sponsor’s petition for permanent residence is approved, USCIS sends the petition to the DoS’s National Visa Center (NVC). When an immigrant visa number becomes available, the NVC notifies both the sponsor and the prospective immigrant. At this time, the consulate will contact the prospective immigrant in order to arrange an interview. The interview will determine whether or not an immigrant visa will be granted. If the visa is granted, the immigrant will be given a sealed visa packet that must be presented unopened at his or her port of entry in the United States, upon which he or she will be admitted as a permanent resident.

Green cards may also be granted on the basis of refugee or asylum-seeker (asylee) status. Immigrants who are admitted to the United States as a refugee, an asylee, or an asylee’s qualifying family member must wait a year after being granted either entry or asylum status before applying for a green card. The legal definition of a refugee is provided in the Immigration and Nationality Act. An asylum seeker is a person who qualifies as a refugee and is already in the United States.

Another method of procuring a green card is through the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) program. Also known as the "green card lottery," this program is overseen by the Department of State and is open to applicants from countries with historically low US immigration rates. Each year, as many as fifty thousand visas are granted via the DV program. Winners of the lottery who reside outside of the United States are granted entry via consular processing.

Once a green card is granted, an immigrant becomes a permanent resident of the United States. According to the USCIS, a green card holder over the age of eighteen must carry the card at all times. As a permanent resident, a green card holder is able to work within the United States and be protected by its laws. Responsibilities of being a permanent resident include filing income tax and abiding by all federal, state, and local laws. A long-term green card holder is also responsible for renewing the card every ten years.

Some restrictions exist for green card holders. For example, while permanent residents are permitted to travel outside of the United States, spending one consecutive year abroad is generally taken as an indication that a green card holder did not intend to reside permanently in the United States, and he or she is considered to have abandoned the status of permanent resident. An absence for less than a year may also qualify as abandonment if there are other indications that the green card holder did not intend to be a permanent resident. Factors taken into account when making this determination include tax, employment, and social history of the individual.

While a green card holder is not required to become a US citizen in order to remain in the United States, he or she may wish to do so. In order to be eligible for naturalization, a permanent resident must be over eighteen years of age, have held a green card for at least the past five years, and have been physically present in the United States for a minimum of thirty months out of those five years. Prospective citizens are also required to demonstrate knowledge of US history and government and proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing English. Once a green card holder is granted citizenship, he or she may vote in local, state, and federal elections; participate in a jury; and adopt and gain citizenship for minor children born in other countries. Perhaps most notably, a US citizen has broader and more expedient access to immigrant visas for foreign family members.

Bibliography

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Keely, Charles B. "Effects of the Immigration Act of 1965 on Selected Population Characteristics of Immigrants to the United States." Demography 8.2 (1971): 157–69. Print.

"The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (The McCarran-Walter Act)." Office of the Historian. Dept. of State, 1 Nov. 2013. Web. 8 June 2015.

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United States. Dept. of Homeland Security. US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Office of Citizenship. Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants. Rev. ed. Washington: GPO, 2007. US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Web. 8 June 2015.