You are in: Home > Immigration Law

How to Get a Green Card

23rd November 2010
By Federico Gould in Immigration Law
RSS Legal RSS    Views: N/A

Permanent Residents have already been authorized to reside and work permanently in the US. Family based immigration is an immigrant visa classification where it allows an individual to become a permanent resident by way of a family member who's a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S.. Most individuals get green card via mothers and fathers / wife or husband / siblings. America enables U.S citizens and permanent residents to petition for their family (specific people only) to come and reside permanently within the U.S.A..

How can my family members get a Green card?

Getting a Green Card for family members is often a two step process. The 1st step is Family Immigration Petition in which they should establish a qualifying relationship in between the Petitioner (US Citizen/ Permanent Resident) with the green card applicant. You can find two categories where the applicants may possibly get their green card. One is, when the family member is inside US then the candidate may possibly qualify to adjust status to Permanent Resident with out returning to their home country. Or in the event the family member is outside US, then he/she may well be eligible for Consular processing via a Consulate or via an US Embassy that has jurisdiction over their foreign place of residence.


The applicants might be qualified to obtain a green card by means of family member who is a US citizen or a Permanent Resident.

US Citizen:

If the family member is actually a U.S. Citizen then the applicant might have the ability to obtain a green card as an immediate relative (husband or wife and children) or being a family member (parents / siblings). This is feasible once the U.S. citizen family member files a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for that applicant.

When the applicant is the spouse (husband or wife), or the child (unmarried and below 21 years old), or the parent (in case the U.S. citizen is twenty one years or older) of a U.S. Citizen then they fall beneath the class Immediate Relatives. An candidate is known as the Family Member of the U.S. citizen if he/she is an unmarried son or daughter (twenty one years or older), a married son or daughter (any age) or a sibling (brother or sister) of a U.S. citizen.

Permanent Resident:

If the Family Member is actually a Permanent Resident then the applicant might have the ability to obtain a green card as an immediate relative (husband or wife and kids) or as being a family member (mother and father / siblings). This really is possible when the Permanent Resident /Green Card family member files a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for that candidate.


If the applicant is the husband or wife of the Permanent Resident Green Card holder, or even the child (single and under 21 years old / above twenty one years) of a Green Card parents, then the candidate is called Immediate Relative.

There's also another strategy for Family Immigration which can be via Special Categories. The applicant may possibly get the green card if he/she can be a battered child or spouse of the U.S. citizen, entered the USA with a K1 visa/ K3 visa, obtained V non-immigrant standing, a widow(er) of the U.S. Citizen, or born to a foreign diplomat inside the United States of America. In case the candidate applies based on the Special Category, he/she need to present relevant proof of the needed evidence.

To get more, free information about immigration, please click here.
This site is also worth checking out!
This article is copyright
About the Author
Immigration Law
Bookmark and Share




Ask a Question about this Article

powered by Yedda