How can a foreigner get a green card in the US? - Page 2

III.\tPreference Categories and Sub-Ceilings
a.\tFamily Sponsored: The family-sponsored program is subdivided into four “preference categories (think of these as four separate lines that qualified family members have to wait in):
i.\tFirst: the unmarried sons and daughters of US citizens
1.\tQuota: 23,400 plus any visas that the fourth preference applicants don’t need.
ii.\tSecond: the spouses and the unmarried sons and daughters of US Citizens.
1.\tQuota: 114,200 plus any visas that the first preference applicants don’t need, plus the amount, if any, by which the total world-wide family-sponsored ceiling exceeds 226,000.
2.\tThis group has also been split up:
a.\t2A: Spouses and “children” (unmarried and under 21) of LPRs.
i.\tQuota: 77% of the second preference visas
ii.\tNote: not subject to per-country limits.
b.\t2B: Over-age-21 unmarried sons and daughters of LPRs.
i.\tQuota: 23% of the second preference visas.
iii.\tThird: the married sons and daughter of United States citizens.
1.\tQuota: 23,400 plus any visas that the first and second preference applicant’s don’t need.
iv.\tFourth: the siblings of over-age-21 US citizens.
1.\tQuota: 65,000 plus any visas that the first, second, and third preference applicants don’t need.
b.\tEmployment-Based: There employment-based program is subdivided into five preference groups, several of which are subdivided:
i.\tFirst: Priority Workers. immigrants with “extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics which has been demonstrated by sustained national or international acclaim;” and professors and researchers who are “outstanding” and “certain multinational executives and managers.” See INA § 203(b)(1).
1.\tQuota: 28.6% of all the employment-based visas, plus any visas that the fourth and fifth preference applicants don’t need.
2.\t “extraordinary ability”: The Regulations define this as “a level of expertise indicating that the individual is one of that small percentage who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor.”
3.\tSports stars: On the one hand, major league status does not per se establish extraordinary ability, but, on the other hand, an athlete doesn’t have to be among the best in the league to qualify either
ii.\tSecond: Members of Professions Holding Advanced Degrees and Aliens of Exceptional Ability: This is for aliens holding graduate degrees and those having exceptional abilities. INA § 203(b)(2).
1.\tQuota: 28.6% of all employment-based visas, plus any visas that the first preference applicants don’t need.
2.\tJob Offer Required: This preference category generally requires a job offer from an American employer and a labor certification.
a.\tLabor Certification: Generally requires that able, willing, and qualified American workers are not available and that the applicant’s employment will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed American workers.
b.\tINS May Waive: Under this preference the INS has the discretion to waive the job offer requirement if this is in the national interest.
i.\tStandard: An applicant for a national interest waiver must show (1) that the area of employment is one of “substantial intrinsic merit;” (2) that the person’s employment will benefit the nation, not just the local area; and (3) that the particular applicant “will serve the national interest to a substantially greater degree than would an available U.S. worker having the same minimum qualifications”.
3.\tExceptional Ability: An advanced degree does not by itself constitute exceptional ability.
iii.\tThird: Skilled Workers, Professionals and Other Workers: This group is for workers who can show that their labor is needed in the United States. See INA § 203(b)(3).
1.\tQuota: 28.6% of all employment-based visas, but no more than 10,000 may go to the “other workers.”
2.\tLabor Certification Required (see on page 7)
3.\tNo Waiver: There is no possible waiver of the job offer requirement in this preference.
4.\t10,000 Limit on “Other Workers”: The statue provides that no more than 10,000 of the third preference visas may be awarded to “other workers.”
iv.\tFourth: Special Immigrants: this category includes, among others, certain religious workers and certain long-term foreign employees of the United States government. This category covers every category of “special immigrant” described in INA § 101(a)(27) (page 30).
1.\tQuota: 7.1% of all employment-based visas.
v.\tFifth: Employment Creation: This category is for entrepreneurs who invest at least $1,000,000 each in enterprises that employ at least ten Americans. See INA § 203(b)(5) (page 67).
1.\tQuota: 7.1% of the employment-based visas.
2.\tConditions Subsequent: The Attorney General can terminate the immigrant investor’s status within two years upon finding that “the establishment of the commercial enterprise was intended solely as a means of evading the immigration laws” or that the various requirements for fifth preference status are not being sustained. During the 90-day period immediately preceding the second anniversary of his admission as an LPR, an investor must petition for removal of the conditions.
3.\tAll Money Not Required Up Front: Investors need not pay the entire minimum amount up front; they need only be “actively in the process of investing” that amount.
4.\tBarely Used
c.\tDiversity Immigrants: Each year about 50,000 winners are selected as “diversity immigrants” because they come from underrepresented countries. The winners are chosen based on a series of elaborate formulas. See INA § 203(c) (page 70).
i.\tFormula: These are the steps in the formula:
1.\tFirst: The AG tabulates, for each foreign state, the number of people from that state who became LPRs during the preceding five-year period as immediate relatives, family-sponsored immigrants and employment-immigrants.
2.\tSecond: Any foreign state for which that five-year number exceeds 50,000 is classified as a “high-admission state” and gets no diversity visas. Every other state is “low-admission”. All of the 50,000 diversity visas are allocated to natives of low-admissions states.
3.\tThird: The Statue divides the world into six regions:
a.\tAfrica
b.\tAsia
c.\tEurope
d.\tNorth America (excluding Mexico)
e.\tOceania
f.\tSouth America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean
4.\tFourth: The regions are divided into “high admission” (accounted for more than 1/6th of total LPR grants over past five years) or “low admission.”
5.\tFifth: The AG computes, for each region, the total population of the low-admission states of that region.
6.\tSixth: The AG now divides up the 50,000 visas between two groups: the group of high-admissions regions and the group of low-admission regions. To do this, the AG first figures out what percentage of the last five years’ immigrants were natives of high-admission regions. The low-admission regions together then receive that percentage of the 50,000 viass. The high admissions regions get the rest.
a.\tExample: If 90% of the past five years’ immigrants were from high-admission regions, then the low-admission regions would get 90% of the diversity visas as an offset.
7.\tSeventh: Within the group of low-admission regions, the visas are allocated among the different regions in proportion to the populations of the low admission states in those regions. Similarly, within the group of high-admission regions, the visas are allocated among the regions in propoertion to the populations of the low-admission states in those regions.
8.\tEighth: Winners within each region are selected by lottery. See INA § 203(e)(2) INA § 203(b)(2).
ii.\tQualifications There are two qualifications:
1.\tThe individual must meet specified requirements concerning education level or work experience, and
2.\tNot more than 7% of the 50,000 visas may go to natives of any single state in a given fiscal year.
d.\t“Spouse or Child Accompanying, or Following to Join: A “spouse or child” who is “accompanying, or following to join” an immigrant who is within any of the three broad preference categories (family, employment, and diversity, except for immediate relatives) is entitled to the same preference status and to the same place in line as the principal immigrant.