With the development of American economy, more and more people want to immigrate to the United States, get American green cards and become permanent residents of the United States. Because once you get a green card and become a permanent resident, you can enjoy the special treatment of American policy, including the right to work and study, the right to apply for naturalization as an American citizen, the right to submit an immigration application for your relatives, and the right to live permanently in the United States as an immigrant according to the immigration law. Generally, the permanent resident status will not be easily changed because of the external environment.
So how should I apply for an American green card and become a permanent resident of the United States?
Generally speaking, there are three ways to apply for an immigrant visa and get an American green card: relative immigration, professional immigration and lottery immigration.
1. Family migration
Applicants for relative immigration can be American citizens or permanent residents of the United States. American citizens can apply for immigration for spouses, children, parents and siblings; Permanent residents can apply for immigration for spouses and unmarried children.
Ir relative migration
This kind of relative immigration is used for unmarried children under 2 1 year old of spouses of American citizens and American citizens over 2 1 year old who apply for immigration for their parents. The biggest advantage of this kind of immigration is that there is no quota limit and the speed of handling cases is faster.
B. Priority categories of relatives' migration
The first priority category (f 1), adult unmarried children of American citizens;
The second priority category (f2) includes: (f2-a) American permanent resident spouses and unmarried children under 2 1; (f2-b) Adult unmarried children of permanent residents in the United States;
The third priority category (f3), married children of American citizens;
The fourth priority category (f4) is brothers and sisters of American citizens.
There is a quota limit for the priority category of relative immigrants, and it is necessary to wait for the quota to be scheduled.
2. Professional immigrants
Professional immigrants are divided into five categories:
A.(eb- 1) excellent employees
This kind of professional immigrants don't need American work certificates. However, applicants must provide evidence to prove that they will continue to work within their professional scope after immigrating to the United States.
Such professional immigrants are suitable for three groups of people:
A. Outstanding talents in special fields such as science, art, education, business or sports;
B. distinguished professors or researchers;
C. management talents of multinational enterprises.
B.(eb-2) Professionals with higher education or special abilities.
This kind of professional immigrants need a work certificate from the United States, but applicants do not need to provide evidence that they will continue to work within the professional scope after immigrating to the United States. At the same time, if the applicant provides evidence that he/she will continue to work within his/her expertise after immigrating to the United States, he/she can also apply for exemption from the requirement of obtaining a work certificate in the United States.
A. Professionals with higher education;
B. professionals with special abilities.
C.(eb-3) Professionals, skilled workers or unskilled workers
Such professional immigrants need American work certificates. Foreigners applying for such visas must be professionals with a bachelor's degree or skilled workers in certain fields, and the latter also requires at least two years of work experience or training.
At the same time, eb-3 also includes a special group of people who can apply for immigration. This group refers to unskilled workers, who must also have at least two years of work experience or training. It is generally difficult for unskilled workers to apply for immigration.
Relatives migration
According to the immigration law of the United States, American citizens aged 265,438+0 or above have the legal qualification to apply for permanent residence and residence of their parents in the United States. Permanent legal residents of the United States (green card holders) do not have this qualification. The meaning of "parents" in American immigration law includes: biological parents (whether born in wedlock or not), stepparents and adoptive parents. However, if an American citizen obtains citizenship through legal adoption, he no longer has the right to apply for the permanent residence of his biological parents in the United States.
Because the parents of American citizens are immediate family members, American immigration law stipulates that there is no limit on the number of immigrant visas for parents of American citizens to apply for green cards. If the parents of American citizens are outside the United States, their children can apply for i- 130 first, and the materials to be submitted include American citizenship paper, birth notarization (father's name is required), parents' marriage certificate, etc. After i- 130 is approved, I will wait for the notice from the American visa center, then prepare the financial guarantee and apply for an immigrant visa at the Guangzhou Consulate. After the immigrant visa is passed, you can go to the United States for permanent residence. If the parents of American citizens are already in the United States and have entered the country as legal non-immigrants, they can apply for adjustment of their status. In this case, they must apply to the Immigration Bureau through the "two-in-one" application procedure of i- 130/i-485, and get approval after the interview.
Important tips for American citizens to apply for parents' immigration
(a) U.S. citizens whose parents apply need to submit two applications.
(2) If the parents of American citizens adjust their status in the United States, the application for i- 130/i-485 should be filed 60 days after the parents enter the country, otherwise, the application for i-485 will be rejected due to immigration tendency.
(3) The immigration law does not require the parents of American citizens to be valid when applying for i-485, as long as they are legally recognized. Therefore, even if the parents who apply for i-485 overstay in the United States, when their i-485 application is accepted by the Immigration Bureau, their status has been legalized, that is, they live legally, waiting for i-485 processing. During this period, they can apply for work permits, etc. However, the immigration law stipulates that if the applicant has lost his identity for more than six months when submitting the i-485, the immigration bureau will generally not approve the return paper to the United States. In some cases, the Immigration Bureau will still approve the documents for returning to the United States, but even if the applicant has a "return document" to leave the country, he may not be allowed to re-enter the United States. Because the immigration law stipulates that people who have lost their identity for more than six months are not allowed to enter the country for three years.
(4) The kinship between American citizens and their parents is extremely important in the examination of immigration applications. If the American citizen's father is not his biological father, but he married the American citizen's mother before his birth, and his father's name is written on the birth paper, then the father still meets the requirements of American immigration law.
American relative immigration conditions
(1) Conditions for spouses to immigrate
Spouse immigration includes two kinds of people: the first is the spouse of an American citizen, who is not subject to quota restrictions and can be approved quickly as long as he applies; The second is the spouse of the American green card holder, who is restricted by quota and belongs to the second priority immigration.
Since this immigration application is based on marriage, marriage must be valid before applying for immigration. Applicants (American citizens or green card holders) must provide the marriage certificates of the applicant and the beneficiary when submitting their immigration applications to the Immigration Bureau. If one or both parties remarry, it is also necessary to provide proof that both parties have legally ended all marriages before.
In addition to the marriage certificate, other auxiliary materials are also reference objects. Such as: wedding photos or other family photos, evidence that both husband and wife have property, lease, tax bill, proof that the spouse is the beneficiary of life insurance, house mortgage loan and common consumption loan, or a fine of $250,000. Foreigners with false marriage records may not apply for immigration to the United States on the grounds of marriage.
Foreigners who apply for a green card through marriage can only get conditional permanent residency for two years. When applying for an immigrant visa, foreigners who have been legally married for two years can obtain formal permanent residency.
If the marriage relationship is proved to be false within the two-year inspection period, or there is separation or divorce within two years, or the marriage relationship is proved to contain money disputes, the permanent residency of immigrants will be revoked and they will be deported.
If there is no fake marriage during the two-year residence restriction period, both husband and wife can apply for permanent residence 90 days before the second anniversary of marriage, which shows that their marriage relationship is true. After individual inquiries by immigration officials, the motivation and current situation of marriage are further examined. After examination, if the possibility of fake marriage is ruled out, immigration officials will lift the two-year limited residence restriction and give permanent residence certificates.
When the marriage changes for other reasons than the immigrant's own reasons, the immigrant as a foreign spouse can file a complaint and be examined by the immigration officer. The reasons for the complaint that can be established are: I married my American spouse out of sincerity and affection, and the termination of the marriage was indeed justified; For example, after arriving in the United States, she is often abused by her husband. After spending a year in the United States, a foreign citizen filed for divorce and received a judgment. After careful investigation, immigration officials will waive her request for a two-year inspection period.
On appeal, mental abuse is more difficult to prove than physical abuse. The following behaviors can be interpreted as mental abuse: withholding green cards, documents, money and controlling actions, and words such as "I won't let you see your relatives without listening to me" and "You can't go without a green card". Once abused, if you want to apply for exemption, it is best to seek the help of lawyers and psychologists. The Immigration Bureau trusts applicants represented by lawyers.
When foreigners apply for naturalization in the future, when calculating the actual residence time in the United States, they can regard the conditional residence period as having formal permanent residency.
Foreigners who have obtained permanent residency in the United States through marriage may not apply for spouse immigration for another foreigner because of remarriage within five years after obtaining formal permanent residency. However, if the parties can provide clear evidence to prove the complete legality of the previous marriage, as well as various legal certificates of divorce and remarriage, the Immigration Bureau may consider granting the person exemption, including the accidental death of the spouse of the previous marriage.
(2) Conditions for children to immigrate
According to American immigration law, there are four main situations to apply for child immigration:
(1)2 1 Unmarried children of American citizens under the age of can apply for immigration, and there is no quota limit;
(2) Children who have reached the age of 2 1 year, but are unmarried, belong to the first priority category;
(3) Children who are married belong to the third priority category;
(4) Green card holders can also apply for immigration for their unmarried children. Beneficiaries belong to the second priority category, and divorced children are considered unmarried. Married children of green card holders have no priority.
The Immigration Law defines "children" as follows:
(1) legitimate children;
(2) A stepchild, as long as his biological father is married to his stepmother or his biological mother is married to his stepfather, and the child is under the age of 18, he has the status of stepchild;
(3) Children born out of wedlock can seek immigration status through their relationship with their biological mother or father, if they are really related by blood;
(4) adopted children, adopted children before the age of 16, legally adopted by adoptive parents, who have lived with adoptive parents for two years.
The so-called parents here include not only biological father and mother, but also stepfather, stepmother, adoptive father and adoptive mother. In principle, the applicant's children should prove the existence of parent-child relationship. It should be noted that the relationship between the adopted children and their biological parents was terminated by adoption, so the adopted children obtained citizenship and could not apply for immigration to the United States for their biological parents.
(3) Conditions for brothers and sisters to emigrate
People with American citizenship, as long as they are over 265,438+0 years old, can apply for siblings to immigrate to the United States, which is the fourth priority in the priority category of relative immigration. People with permanent residency in the United States cannot be their brothers and sisters, but also their half-brothers. But this stepbrother relationship should have existed before 18 years old, otherwise you may not enjoy the rights and interests in immigration law.
(four) the conditions for the migration of family members in the same industry
In order to prevent the families of immigrants from being separated, the immigration law gives special treatment to the family members of the same trade who are approved to immigrate. Spouses of immigrants who have obtained any of the above preferential status and unmarried children under 2 1 year old can obtain the same kind of priority immigration status if they travel with them or reunite with them in the United States later.
For example, if an American citizen applies for his sister to come to the United States, after the approval of the Immigration Bureau, his sister can apply for an immigrant visa herself, and his brother-in-law and unmarried children under the age of 2/kloc-0 can also apply for colleagues or immigrate to the United States in the future. Foreigners applying for immigration under the next of kin program cannot obtain any immigration status for themselves and their unmarried children under 2 1 year. For example, a woman who marries an American citizen applies for immigration for them in order to obtain immigration status. Of course, after obtaining immigration status, A can also apply for immigration for her unmarried children with second priority.
American immigrants waited too long to call for reform.
Immigrants from China and other countries have been worried about getting green cards for their adult children, and the waiting time of 10 to 20 years almost makes them desperate. Immigration advocates call on legislators to shorten the long waiting time for immigrants when carrying out the new immigration system reform. According to American immigration law, new immigrants in the United States cannot apply for their adult children over 2 1 year old, so many immigrant families cannot get together.
In 2005, an immigrant from China obtained a green card by applying for relative immigration through her sister. He hopes to apply for his daughter's green card, and from 1992, he calculates the time for his sister to apply for relative immigration for the first time. However, the court said that this is a new case and must be recalculated. It will take 10 to 20 years. According to the statistics of the Immigration Lawyers Association, there are about 20,000 applicants in the United States waiting for their relatives to immigrate, especially those from the Philippines, Mexico and China. Because of the restriction of national immigration quota, it takes a long time for new immigrants to apply for green cards for adult children.
Almost all immigrants have experienced long-term family separation. The immigration schedule is a heart disease for all immigrants. After submitting the application, if it goes well, the schedule of each month will be advanced several months. When things don't go well, there will be a car accident, which will make people exhausted. According to the immigration schedule published by the State Council in September this year, the schedule of unmarried children of Chinese mainland citizens in the category of relatives of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan was moved to May 200315; The minor children of green card holders are scheduled for April 200515; Unmarried adult children of green card holders are scheduled for July 1, 200 1. Other categories need to wait more time.
At present, in new york, California, New Jersey and Ohio, each state has more than a dozen immigration cases requiring rescheduling. According to the complainant, according to the 2002 law, growing children should use the date when their parents first applied for immigration. Advocates of immigration reform are urging legislators to shorten the waiting time for relatives to immigrate when drafting a new immigration legal system, especially to reconsider the green card application of adult children of new immigrants. The long-term separation of relatives has affected the spiritual and socio-economic development of American immigration law.
How to get the class schedule? The priority schedule of relatives' immigration is the time when the applicant handles the immigration relatives and submits the application form i- 130 to the Immigration Bureau. Professional immigrants have the following ways according to their priorities: first, when the employer sends the applicant's labor paper application to the Ministry of Labor; Second, the category of unnecessary labor paper is when the employer sends the application form i- 140 to the immigration office.
1. Because of the change of the situation, the categories of applications have also changed. Whether the original scheduling can be maintained depends first on the migration of relatives. For example, citizens who apply for children under 2 1 year-old do not need super priority in scheduling, but when they are over 2 1 year-old, they become the first priority for relatives, and when they get married, they become the third priority for relatives. These changes are based on the submission time of the original application, and the priority has changed but the schedule has not changed.
It is different for permanent residents to apply for their children. For example, underage unmarried children apply for priority, but if their children get married, the application will disappear, because permanent residents cannot apply for immigration for married children. However, parents become citizens before their children get married, and if their children get married, they will become the third priority and keep the original schedule.
For example, parents of permanent residents apply for 2b priority for their children. When parents become citizens, they immediately become the first priority. Children can still keep their original schedule and get a green card faster. After the parents become citizens, if the children get married immediately, the spouse can immigrate according to the original schedule.
2. For the timetable for obtaining professional immigrants, check the notice of application for permission from the Immigration Bureau [i-797], and there will be the applicant's timetable. First, second and third priority is given to applying for professional immigration. If you get the approval of the labor paper first, you will not continue to apply for a visa, and then apply for a second time. As long as the project remains unchanged, the original progress can be maintained. In short, it depends on other objective factors at that time, and whether the original progress can be maintained can be judged.