US Immigrant Visas

• Employer sponsorship;
• Investments in the United States;
• Family sponsorship;
• Self-sponsorship as a person of extraordinary ability in business, athletics, arts, education or scientific research;
• Visa lottery;
• Political asylum;
• Amnesty programs (most amnesty programs are now completed and if you have not yet filed for it, you are ineligible to do so now);
• Registry (proving continuous residence in the United States since 1972);
• Applications for Cancellation of Removal in Deportation. 
  
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• Each of the above paths to obtain a green card requires the filing of different and complex applications and visa petitions with the United States Department of Homeland Security.
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• However, there is also no reason not to file more than one "green card application" or visa petition at the same time to obtain your lawful permanent residence. For example, a non-United States citizen can be sponsored simultaneously by an employer, a permanent resident parent and can simultaneously submit an application for the visa lottery. This same non-United States citizen can obtain his or her green card from which ever case is completed first.
  
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• The reason different cases take different time periods to complete is because the number of people allowed to enter the United States each year with an Immigrant Visa is limited under a quota system. Some cases have a long waiting list under the quota system, such as sponsorships of brothers and sisters of United States citizens and other cases have very little wait at all, such as self sponsorship based on extraordinary ability. A person who is being sponsored for a green card is called a “beneficiary”. A beneficiary’s place in line under the quota system is determined by priority dates. A priority date is the date in which a beneficiary’s application is first received by the immigration service or labor department.  
  
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• Obtaining a Green Card in the shortest time possible requires a careful evaluation of your factual circumstances, expert navigation of the Immigration bureaucracy, expert advice and review of the relevant documentation required to support an Immigration petition and superior knowledge of the US Immigration and Nationality Act, US Immigration and Citizenship Service regulations, US Customs and Enforcement regulations, US Labor Department Regulations, and US State Department Regulations.
  
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  The Law Offices of Spar and Bernstein P.C. have a long history of timely and successfully obtaining US Green Cards for their clients.
  
  A lawful permanent resident or green card holder has the following rights:
  
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• The right to live permanently in the United States.
• The right to work in any legal job position.
• The right to enter the United States after travel abroad.
• The right to apply for US Citizenship after continuously living as a permanent resident in the United States for five (5) years. Spouses of United States citizens can apply for US Citizenship after living in the United States, as a permanent resident for three (3) years. Certain members of the United States armed forces can apply for citizenship after only one (1) year as a lawful permanent resident.
• Most rights held by US Citizens under the United States Constitution including the right to free speech, right to practice religion, etc.
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• Two important rights United States Green Card holders do not have are:
  
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• The right to vote in local, state or federal elections.
• The right to work or hold a position in most mid and high level local, state or federal government offices (including work as a police officer in most jurisdictions).
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• As a green card holder, the right to enter the United States is not unconditional. A green card holder can be found to be inadmissible by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have the right to deny entry to any green card holder at an airport or border crossing who:
  
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• Is a health hazard, is a drug user/addict, or has certain past or current physical/mental disorders.
• Abandoned his/her Permanent Residence by overt act (i.e. becoming a Permanent Resident of another country, returning a Green Card to the Immigration Service, etc.).
• Remained outside of the United States for a period of time which indicates that the individual abandoned his/her Permanent Residence.
• Has committed prior criminal drug offenses, or other deportable crimes.
• Is suspected to be entering the United States to perform illegal, unlawful or immoral activities.
• Is a suspected terrorist, drug dealer, communist, or nazi.
• Is an individual engaged in espionage, sabotage, technology export offenses, or is an individual in violent opposition to the US Government.
• Is considered to become a public charge by not being able to support himself/herself at 125% above the poverty level.
• Is an alien smuggler.
• Is a person who falls under certain other miscellaneous grounds of inadmissibility.