With over 20 million eligible people applying for green cards annually, you need to have a few tricks up your sleeve. Like in any other situation, you need something that sets you apart from the rest of the pack. Aside from making sure that your application is free from errors and making sure you submit all the necessary documents, here are a few things that will give you a boost to getting that green card?
Employment
Suppose you are already living and working in the U.S. and seeking permanent residence. In that case, you have to have extraordinary abilities, have a degree, or have work in which no similar qualified U.S. citizen is available or a multinational company manager. It would help if you also stayed in good books with your employer to make it easier to get labor certification, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, and file form I-140. It ensures you can permanently stay in the U.S.
Suppose you are a qualified nurse, physical therapist, surgeon, or medical professional with a job offer from a U.S. hospital or medical center. In that case, you have a great chance of winning the lottery. Suppose you are a professional with advanced degrees or involved in activities that will substantially benefit the U.S. national interest or a professional with a U.S. degree or foreign equivalent. In that case, there is a likelihood of getting the visa.
Investment
If you are an investor, you can get a green card if you invest $1,000,000 into a new business or $500,000 into a business in a targeted employment area. You can also get it if you expand a business by at least 40% or create ten permanent job opportunities within the United States. You will have to fill out form I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur.
Be talented and have extraordinary skills and abilities
You may be eligible to get a green card under an Alien of Extraordinary Ability. You have to be talented in the field of business, academics, arts, or science. Recommendations from highly respected individuals like CEOs, professors are a plus.
Family
This is the most popular and easiest way of getting a green card. You can easily get a green card if you are closely related to a U.S. citizen or a green cardholder. They are allowed to petition spouses, unmarried children under 21, parents, and step or immediate siblings.
There are some rare instances where you can get a green card. They include being a battered spouse or child, widow and widower of a U.S. citizen, or a child of a foreign diplomat born in the U.S. Here you must fill the USCIS Form I-360 Petition for Special Immigrants.
Refugee or Asylee
If you enter the U.S. as a refugee or an asylee, you can apply for a green card. But you have to have stayed in the U.S. for over a year.
