Permanent residence (United States)

A United States Permanent Resident Card, known informally as a green card because it is green in color, is an identification card attesting to the permanent resident status of an alien in the United States of America. Green card also refers to an immigration process of becoming a permanent resident.

The green card serves as proof that its holder, a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR), has been officially granted immigration benefits, which include permission to reside and take employment in the USA. The holder must maintain permanent resident status, and can be removed from the United States if certain conditions of this status are not met.

Green cards were formerly issued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). During a re-organization process, that agency was absorbed into and replaced by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Shortly after that re-organization, BCIS was renamed to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which still retains the responsibility for issuing green cards.

An alien with a green card application can obtain two important permits while the case is pending after a certain stage is passed in green card processing (filing of I-485). The first is a temporary work permit known as the Employment Authorization Document (EAD), which allows the alien to take employment in the United States. The second is a temporary travel document, advance parole, which allows the alien to re-enter the United States. Both permits confer benefits that are independent of any existing status granted to the alien. For example, the alien might already have permission to work in the United States under an H-1B visa.

Reading a Permanent Resident Card

Most of the information on the card is self-evident. The computer and human readable signature at the bottom is not. The format is (digit range: expected data (information contained)):

First line:

1–2: C1 or C2 C1 = Resident within the United States C2= Permanent Resident commuter (Living in Canada or Mexico)
3–5: USA (issuing country, United States)
6–14: 9-digit number (A#, alien number)
15: application receipt number
16–30: immigrant case number that resulted in the approved green card. The "<" symbol represents a blank space

Second line:

1-6: birth date (in YY/MM/DD format)
7: not documented, assumed to be a check digit
8: gender
9-14: expiration date (in YY/MM/DD format)
15: not documented, assumed to be a check digit
16-29: country of birth
30: not documented, assumed to be a check digit

Third line:

last name, first name, middle name, first initial of father, first initial of mother (this line is spaced with "<<" between the last name and first name). Depending of the length of the name, the father's and mother's initials may be omitted.

Path to U.S. citizenship

U.S. immigration legislation in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) stipulates that a person may obtain permanent resident status primarily through the course of the following proceedings:

• immigration through a family member
• immigration through employment
• immigration through investment
• immigration through the Diversity Lottery
• immigration through Refugee or Asylum status
• immigration through "The Registry" provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act

Application process

An immigrant usually has to go through a three-step process to get permanent residency. The whole process may take several years, depending on the type of immigrant category and the country of birth.

1. Immigrant Petition – in the first step, USCIS approves the immigrant petition by a qualifying relative, an employer, or in rare cases, such as with an investor visa, the applicant himself. If a sibling is applying, she or he must have the same parents as the applicant.
2. Immigrant Visa Availability – in the second step, unless the applicant is an "immediate relative", an immigrant visa number through the National Visa Center (NVC) of the United States Department of State (DOS) must be available. A visa number might not be immediately available even if the USCIS approves the petition, because the amount of immigrant visa numbers is limited every year by quotas set in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). There are also certain additional limitations by country of birth. Thus, most immigrants will be placed on lengthy waiting lists. Those immigrants who are immediate relatives of a U.S. citizen (spouses and children under 21 years of age, and parents of a US citizen who is 21 years of age or older) are not subject to these quotas and may proceed to the next step immediately (since they qualify for the IR immigrant category).
3. Immigrant Visa Adjudication – in the third step, if an immigrant visa number becomes available, the applicant must either apply with USCIS to adjust their current status to permanent resident status or apply with the DOS for an immigrant visa at the nearest US consulate before being allowed to come to the United States.

Adjustment of Status (AOS)

Adjustment of status is submitted to USCIS via form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status. The USCIS conducts a series of background checks (including fingerprinting for FBI criminal background check and name checks) and makes a decision on the application. Once the adjustment of status application is accepted, the alien is allowed to stay in the United States even if the original period of authorized stay on the Form I-94 is expired, but he is not allowed to leave the country until the application is approved or rejected. If the alien has to leave the United States during this time, he/she can apply for travel documents at the USCIS with form I-131, also called Advance Parole.

If there is a potential risk that the applicant's work permit (visa) will expire or become invalid (laid off by the employer and visa sponsor) or the applicant wants to start working in the United States, while he/she is waiting for the decision about his/her application to change status, he/she can file form I-765, to get Employment Authorization Documents (also called EAD) and be able to continue or start working legally in the United States.

In some cases, the applicant will be interviewed at a USCIS office, especially if it is a marriage-based adjustment from a K-1 visa visa, in which case both the husband and wife will be interviewed by the USCIS. If the application is approved, the alien becomes an LPR, and the actual green card is mailed to the alien's last known mailing address.

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Consular Processing

Consular Processing is an alternative to AOS, but still requires the immigrant visa petition to be completed. If the applicant is outside of the USA (or selects this option instead of AOS), he/she may make an appointment at the U.S. embassy or consulate in his/her home country, where a consular officer adjudicates the case. If the case is approved, an immigrant visa is issued by the U.S. embassy or consulate.

The visa entitles the holder to travel to the U.S. as an immigrant. At the port of entry, the immigrant visa holder is processed for a permanent resident card and receives an I-551 stamp in his/her passport. The permanent resident card is mailed to his/her US address within several weeks.

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