The U.S. Permanent Resident Card, or Green Card, is a document that grants permanent residency to the holder in the United States. Most non-US citizens apply for the Green Card because it promises to open avenues for them to invest in various businesses in the States, with the added benefit of enjoying all the advantages that come with a life in the U.S.

Applying for the green card can prove to be a difficult task as it involves a series of steps and procedures—apart from the eligibility criteria—that the applicant is required to follow. Some of the ways in which people can apply for the green card are:

• • Through family: If the applicant is an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, he/she can apply for the green card.

• • Through employment: Under this category, an immigrant worker, a physician, or an immigrant investor can be eligible to apply for the card.

• • As a Special Immigrant: The applicant is eligible to apply for the card if he is either a religious worker, an Afghani or Iraqi national, or an international broadcaster working in the media.

• • Through the Registry: A provision of immigration law known as the Registry gives some people who have been in the country since January 1, 1972, the opportunity to apply for a green card (permanent residency), even if they are currently doing so unlawfully.

While each category might have its own procedures and processes at the application stage, there are a few common steps and requirements to apply for the green card—after the applicant has confirmed that he is eligible for the programme:

• • Adjustment of status: This is a process used to apply for the status when the applicant is, at the time of application, present in the United States.

As an alternative, the applicant can apply for the permanent residency card programme via the

consular processing option

. This is a process used to apply for the status when the applicant is not present in the United States at the time of application and requests an immigrant visa to enter the country and be admitted as a permanent resident.

• • Visa availability and other documents: In most cases, the applicant is required to have a visa and other official travel documents before they can submit an application for a green card.

• • Employment authorization document: Regardless of citizenship or country of origin, American companies are required to verify that each employee is qualified to work in the country. The applicants’ employment authorization documents are cross-checked to accomplish this.

Green Card Transfer

While the majority of green card holders opt to keep their current status, there are occasionally cases where a candidate who applied for a green card under a particular category seeks to transfer his status under the option of adjustment of status. This is, as mentioned before, the process that is used to apply for lawful permanent resident status when the applicant is present in the United States. Some cases in which applicants can choose to apply for an adjustment of status are:

• • If they choose to adjust to a petition that involves the entire immediate family when they originally applied for the card based on employment,

• • If they choose to adjust based on employment when they initially applied for adjustment as the spouse of a citizen of the United States.

• • If they initially applied for both adjustment and an employment-based petition and then chose to adjust to a family-based petition, and so on.

The choice to approve or reject a transfer request is always up to the category administrator, just like with any other program. When deciding whether to approve a transfer request, a number of eligibility variables are taken into account.

• • Eligibility for Status Changes

There must not be a lapse in the applicant’s eligibility to adjust before the submission of the transfer request application. This requirement has been created in order to transfer an adjustment application smoothly from one basis to another. A transfer cannot be authorised if a candidate does not continue to be eligible after the transfer is requested.

• • Substitute Category Eligibility

To switch to a new eligibility basis, the applicant must produce proof of eligibility for the new immigrant category. Such a transfer request should be handled as though it were a new filing.

• Instantly obtainable visa

The applicant must hold an available visa in the new immigrant category to shift an adjustment application to a new basis containing a preference classification.

The steps or requirements under the green card transfer application are as follows:

• • Requests made in writing

The applicant is required to fill out Form I-485 to place a request and add a request in writing to adjust the status. If the candidate is qualified to adjust immediately to the new classification, the procedure moves to the next stage without further delay.

• • They are also required to:

• • Send in a petition asking for the transfer of the applicant’s pending adjustment application to the new petition.

• • Include supporting documentation for the transfer request.

• Fill out Forms I-140 (for employment-based transfers) and I-130 (for family-based transfers).

That being said, it’s important to note that the transfer request might be approved or rejected at the manager’s discretion. An officer may take into account factors such as the effects of additional processing time needed to gather evidence to support the applicant’s new claim, factors such as the reason for the request, the existence or absence of evidence to back up the new claims, the degree of difficulty of obtaining an essential receipt, how challenging it would be to determine the applicant’s continuous eligibility from the initial petition or basis, and so on, before granting the applicant their green card transfer.

While some studies indicate that the chances of obtaining a transfer to the green card are rare and come with a rather tedious effort, or even a hit-and-miss sort of situation, others—to an equal measure—claim that the transfer does happen, however lengthy the process may be, and guarantees the applicant all the benefits that the initial green card offered.