• Ability to leave/enter the U.S. at will without the risk of being denied entry by an Immigration official at the port of entry. Make sure that you take your green card to show INS when you come back, keep a record of the dates each time you leave and come back and always reenter legally (use the border checkpoint.

• Right to apply for government-sponsored financial aid for education.

• Permission to work in any company located in U.S. territory regardless of job function, hours/week, etc. except for some companies that only hire U.S. citizens.

• Permission to start own business and create own corporation.

• To keep greencard, the person must reside in the U.S. for a minimum number of days(182 days) per year.

• Greencard holders can get into welfare if unable to get a job.

• Greencard holders can sponsor spouse and unmarried children to obtain permanent status.

• Greencard can be revoked for multiple reasons including but not limited to, criminal convictions, abandoning of permanent residence, drug use, illegal activities.

• Greencard holders cannot vote.

• Greencard holders get Social Security benefits when they retire, if they worked for 10 years before retiring

• If you are a male over 17 but under 26, you must register with the Selective Service. If you do not register, you may be subject to criminal prosecution. If convicted, you could be deported.

• Be sure to pay taxes you owe, report any change of address to INS within 10 days, have your children who are permanent residents register with INS within 10 days of turning 14.

Each year, 140,000 applicants are awarded green cards on employment based immigrant visas. Each country is limited receive 7% of 140,000 green cards (which is 9,800) no matter how tiny Island it is how big or populous country it is (like India, China). They are further divided into five categories which are explained below. Some categories require labor certification from Department of Labor(DOL), while others don't.

First(EB1): Priority Workers: 28.6% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, plus any numbers not required for fourth and fifth preferences. So each country gets 9800 X 28.6% = 2802 + numbers not used in EB4 and EB5.

These include

• persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics
• outstanding professors or researchers
• managers and executives subject to international transfer to the United States

• persons of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts or business
• professionals with advanced degrees or equivalent

• professionals with bachelor's degrees (not qualifying for a higher preference category)
• skilled workers (minimum two years training and experience)
• unskilled workers

• religious workers
• employees and former employees of the U.S. Government abroad

Coming Soon

• Members of the professions holding advanced degrees or equivalent:The petition can be filed in this category if the job requires an advanced degree(beyond Bachelor's degree such as Master's degree or Ph.D.) and the alien has such a degree or the equivalent(Bachelor's degree plus five years of progressive experience in the profession. Also called BS+5.) The degree may be from US or equivalent degree from a foreign country. If applying by BS+5, the experience letters from former employers showing that the alien has at least 5 years of progressive experience in the specialty after the Bachelor's degree. The experience from the current CAN NOT be used unless that experience is for a different job (different job duties, promotion to manager etc.) than for the job for which the petition is being filed.
  
  Please not that merely having an advanced degree or equivalent(BS+5) is not enough to file the petition in EB2, the job must require it.

• Persons of exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics:Exceptional ability means having a degree and expertise significantly above that normally found within the field. Here the standard is "exceptional" and NOT "extraordinary" which comes under EB1.
  
  Evidences of exceptional ability include following(should provide 3 of them):

  • An official academic record showing that the alien possesses a degree, diploma, certificate or similar award from a college, university, school or other institution of learning relating to the area of exceptional ability.

  • Letters from employers showing at least ten years of full-time experience in the occupation being sought.

  • If the profession requires, a license or a certification for particular profession/occupation.

  • Membership in professional associations.

  • Evidence that the alien has commanded a salary or other compensation for services which demonstrates exceptional ability.

  • Documentation of recognition for achievements and significant contributions to the industry or field by peers, government entities, professional or business organizations.

  If the above standards do not apply to the petitioner's occupation, other comparable evidence of eligibility is also acceptable.
  
  National Interest Waiver(NIW):
  If the alien can prove that his/her exception ability will substantially benefit the national economy, cultural, or educational interests or welfare of the United States, the national interest waiver(NIW) can be granted so that the alien with such abilities does not require a job offer from US employer nor the employer has to file labor certification for the alien. INS advises applicants to make their best case possible.

It is easier to get I-140 approved under EB3 than under EB2, as the job requirements in EB2 are carefully scrutinized. But it is advantageous for people born in over subscribed countries like India and China to apply in EB2 because processing greencard in EB2 takes much lesser time than in EB3 for them.

• Permanent, full time job offer, unless qualified under National Interest Waiver(NIW)
• Labor Certification(except occupations under Schedule A or if qualified under National Interest Waiver(NIW)). To apply for a NIW, you must still submit Department of Labor Form ETA-750B. Labor department will review the case for NIW and grant the waiver if appropriate.
• Form I-140 Petition for Immigrant Worker
• When the priority date is current, either Adjustment of Status or Consular Processing

Employment based category 3 is further divided into following categories:

• Professional Workers: Professionals must hold a U.S. bachelor's degree or foreign equivalent degree that is normally required for the profession(such as engineering, computer science etc.) or Workers with a bachelor's degree in a profession (for example, equivalent job experience as determined by a professional association(about 10 years of professional experience may be substitute for the bachelor's degree for computer professionals.) This category is for aliens who don't qualify for EB2 category(Master's degree or equivalent which is Bachelor's degree + five years of progressive experience). Having a bachelor's degree is not enough, the job also must require bachelor's degree.

• Skilled Workers: Positions that are not seasonal or temporary and require at least two years of job experience, an undergraduate degree, vocational training apprenticeship in a trade. The training requirement may be met through relevant post-secondary education. Job requirements stated in Form ETA-750(Labor Certification) determine whether a job is skilled or unskilled. For more information, please see the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration

• Unskilled(Other) Workers: Other workers with less than two years of higher education, training, or experience, such as an unskilled worker who can perform labor for which qualified workers are not available in the United States. Job must require that training or experience. Labor certification is difficult to get in this category. However, due to the long backlog(as they are limited to 10,000 visas per year), a petitioner could expect to wait many years before being granted a visa under this category.

• Schedule A Waivers: Some occupations, both skilled and unskilled, for which is there is a known shortage of US workers come under Schedule A. In order to apply for a Schedule A waiver, the employer must submit labor certification form ETA-750 describing that the occupation is listed under Schedule A and hence it is exempt from normal labor certification process.

• Schedule B Occupations: Some occupations(both skilled and semi-skilled) already have over supply of labor in United States. Getting labor certification is extremely difficult under this category unless your employer can strongly prove that you are way much better than others because of your unique abilities, foreign language skills, business connections etc.

• Physical Therapists and Professional Registered Nurses: Nurses must be licensed to practice nursing in the state in which they reside or plan to reside and be graduates of an accredited nursing school in the United States or Canada (or have passed their CGFNS; Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools examinations). Physical therapists do not need to be licensed, but must meet the qualifications for a license from the state.

• Permanent, full time job offer.
• Labor Certification(except occupations under Schedule A)
• Form I-140 Petition for Immigrant Worker
• When the priority date is current, either Adjustment of Status or Consular Processing

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

All employment based greencard applicants must keep on working for the sponsoring employer even after applying for adjustment of status and even if they have received. EB1 petitions with "persons of extraordinary ability" and self-petitioned NIW beneficiary may change employers(because job offer is not required under those categories), while an employer-petitioned beneficiary may not(while job offer is required). After getting EAD, he/she can do any other part-time job or even open a business as long as he/she keeps working for the sponsoring employer. But the primary applicant's dependents can work for any employer, as long as he/she(dependent) himself/herself has got EAD and the primary applicant's application for AOS is still pending.

The employee should work not only for the same employer but also keep doing the original job offered. If job title or job duties change significantly, it is considered a job change and new labor certification is required and hence new I-140 is also required. Please note that normal raises in salary are not considered job change.

In today's dynamic market, many people want to know how long does an employee who receives employment based greencard needs to work for the same employer after getting he greencard. There is no precise answer to this question. The law say that if the employee left within 2 years, the employee has burden to prove that he/she accepted the job offer in good faith and didn't intend to leave at the time of accepting permanent residentship. If it is more than 2 years, the burden comes to INS to prove that. The theory behind greencard through offer of employment is that an employee is accepting a job on a "permanent" basis. But "permanent" obviously does not mean for ever as it does not make sense. But it also does not mean that the person leaves the company the day he/she gets green card. Each case would be different depending upon employee-employer relationship. But in general, staying with the same company for about 6 months to 1 year should be enough indication of permanency. "Permanent" means that, at the time the employee becomes a lawful permanent resident, neither the employer nor the employee have any plans to change the employment relationship described in the labor certification or I-140 petition. If you leave too soon, INS may claim that you did not intend to take the job up on a "permanent" basis. If the employer(or even a jealous co-worker)is dissatisfied with yourself leaving too soon, they can file a complaint with INS and INS may either take any action or not depending upon the circumstances. INS also may find about yourself leaving too soon while later applying for Citizenship or petitioning for relatives.

If INS finds out that the employee was just waiting for his/her immigration to be complete before jumping to a new job, then they are likely to charge fraud. If, on the other hand, it appears that the employee really did intend to stay with the petitioning employer indefinitely at the time of immigrating, but a legitimate reason later developed for leaving(like employer's business took an unexpected downturn and the employer had to lay off workers), then there should be no problem.

Even if the employer does not mind employee leaving immediately after getting the green card, it is not OK for INS. Both employer and employee should have good faith to have that employer/employee relationship on a "permanent" basis.

Until the person gets the greencard, if he/she is layed-off at any time, he/she would have to start the greencard process again. If the labor certificate is approved, it won't be valid as it is for job in future and that job must be available now, which is not the case. So labor certificate would be invalid. Similarly I-140 also would be invalid, if it has been approved. The person can use his/her priority date from the previous company if his/her I-140 was approved before he/she got layed-off. Even if the person has applied for adjustment of status and received EAD, he/she can only work additionally for any other employer as long as he/she keeps working for the sponsoring employer. So if he get laid off, everything including his/her H1B visa, labor certification, I-140, I-485 application, EAD, AP are invalid. If the person is maintaining valid non-immigrant status, he/she has 10 days to leave the country . If the person is on EAD/AP, he/she has to immediately leave the country.

For labor certification based green card, if the employee gets transferred from the original job location outside the normal commuting distance(approximately 35 miles), new labor certification is needed even if the job duties remain same. For non-labor certification based green card, transfer to different location is fine as long as the job duties remain same.

If the sponsoring employer simply changes its name to better reflect the business or for other similar business and every thing else remains same, no new procedure is required. Everything remains same as earlier. But in all the subsequent paperwork, standard letter regarding the name change should be included.

If the sponsoring employer gets merged or gets bought by another company, whether the whole green card needs to be done again or not depends upon the nature of the merger or buy. If the new company is the successor of interest and takes over everything and your job duties remain same at the same location(job location change within the commuting distance of original job location is fine), the green card process does not need to be done again, otherwise everything needs to be done from scratch. (If I-140 is approved, the previous priority date can be used, though).