Green Card (Lawful Permanent Residence)

How a non-citizen becomes a lawful permanent resident of the United States: the family, employment and other routes, the petition and the application, and why the order of the steps matters.

Looking for a lawyer rather than a definition? Skip to the state-by-state list of Immigration law firms.

What it means

A green card is the document that proves lawful permanent resident status: the right to live and work in the United States indefinitely, travel and return, and later apply to become a citizen. Almost every route has two stages. First someone files a petition that establishes the basis: a U.S. citizen or permanent resident relative files Form I-130, or an employer files Form I-140, usually after the Department of Labor certifies that no qualified U.S. worker is available for the job. Second, the person applies for the green card itself, either by adjustment of status on Form I-485 if they are already in the United States and eligible to adjust, or by consular processing at a U.S. consulate abroad.

How long the wait is depends on the category. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens (spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents of citizens who are at least 21) are not subject to annual numerical limits. Other family members and most employment categories are, and each country and category has its own queue, published monthly in the State Department's Visa Bulletin by priority date. Smaller routes include the diversity visa lottery, asylee and refugee adjustment, and special categories for particular groups.

Eligibility to adjust inside the United States is where most cases are won or lost. A person who entered without inspection, or who worked without authorization or fell out of status, may be barred from adjusting and may trigger a bar on returning for years if they leave to process abroad, unless a waiver is approved first. The sponsoring relative usually signs an enforceable affidavit of support, and the applicant must not be found likely to become a public charge. A green card based on a recent marriage is issued as conditional residence, and the couple must apply together to remove the conditions before it expires. Permanent residence can be lost by long absences that show the person abandoned it, or by a conviction that makes them deportable; see removal defense.

Where this comes from

When people hire a lawyer for this

See an immigration lawyer before anything is filed if you entered without inspection, have ever been out of status or worked without permission, have any arrest or conviction, or were ever in removal proceedings; an application filed in the wrong order, or a trip abroad at the wrong time, can trigger a bar that a lawyer would have seen coming. Use only a licensed attorney or a Department of Justice accredited representative; "notarios" and immigration consultants cannot give legal advice and have cost people their cases. Nonprofit organizations and law school clinics help many family-based applicants at low or no cost.

Worried about the cost? A lawyer can be hired for one part of a case only (limited-scope representation), may be paid from what a claim recovers (contingency fee), or may be free through a pro bono program or legal aid; a court can also waive its own filing fees.

Find Immigration law firms in your state

Choose your state to see Immigration law firms in the city where we list the most; your city may be under “other cities”, A to Z. A state marked “Business Law” has no Immigration listing yet and opens the broader page.

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  • and 7 more with fewer listed firms
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• Oregon (Portland)
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• Wisconsin (Madison)
  +1 other city

  • Milwaukee
• Wyoming (Cheyenne, Business Law)

Related terms

Entries on the same subject:

• AsylumProtection for a person in the United States who fears persecution in their home country on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group, and how it differs from withholding of removal.
• H-1B Specialty Occupation VisaThe employer-sponsored temporary work visa for jobs that require a specialized degree: the labor condition application, the annual cap and lottery, the employer's wage duties, and what happens if the job ends.
• K-1 Fiance(e) VisaHow a U.S. citizen brings a foreign fiance(e) to the United States to marry, the in-person meeting and disclosure rules, what must happen after arrival, and the alternative of marrying abroad first.
• Naturalization (Becoming a U.S. Citizen)How a lawful permanent resident becomes a U.S. citizen: the residence, presence, character, English and civics requirements, the interview, and what happens after a denial.
• Removal (Deportation) DefenseWhat happens when the government seeks to remove a non-citizen from the United States, the hearing they are entitled to, and the forms of relief an immigration judge can grant.
• U Visa for Crime VictimsImmigration status for non-citizen victims of certain crimes who help the police or prosecutors, how the law enforcement certification works, and the related T visa and VAWA protections.

Other entries in the same area of law, each written from the same primary sources.

• Asset Purchase vs Stock PurchaseThe two ways to buy a business - buying what it owns or buying the entity that owns it - and why the choice decides which liabilities come with it, which contracts transfer, and how the price is taxed.
• Breach of ContractA failure to do what a binding agreement required - and the question a court actually asks is not whether someone broke a promise but what the loss was and whether it could have been avoided.
• Buy-Sell AgreementThe contract between co-owners of a business that says what happens to an owner's share when they die, leave, divorce or go bankrupt - who must or may buy it, at what price, and with what money.
• DBA (Fictitious Business Name)A registered trade name under which a person or company does business - which tells the public who is behind the name and does nothing else.
• Fiduciary Duties and the Business Judgment RuleThe duties of care and loyalty that directors, officers, managers and controlling owners owe the business, the rule that protects honest decisions that turned out badly, and the derivative suit that enforces them.
• Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD)The document a franchisor must give a prospective franchisee before any contract is signed or money changes hands - what the federal rule requires it to contain, what it does not promise, and the state laws that add registration and relationship rights.
• General and Limited PartnershipsA general partnership can be formed by conduct with no paperwork and makes every partner personally liable; a limited partnership requires a filing and shields the partners who do not manage. What each is, and the LLP and LLLP variants.
• Indemnification and Hold Harmless ClausesThe contract provision under which one party agrees to cover another's losses and defend it against claims - what it usually reaches, the state laws that void some of it, and why insurance is the other half of the promise.
• Independent Contractor vs EmployeeTwo legal categories of worker with very different consequences for taxes, overtime and liability - and a label in a contract does not settle which one applies.
• Insurer's Duty to DefendThe promise in a liability insurance policy to pay for the policyholder's lawyer when they are sued, why it is broader than the duty to pay a judgment, and what happens under a reservation of rights.
• Letter of Intent (LOI) and Term SheetThe preliminary document that sets out the main terms of a deal before the contract is drafted - which parts of it are usually binding, which are not, and how a "non-binding" letter still creates obligations.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC)A business form that shields its owners from most business debts while staying simpler to run than a corporation.
• Non-Compete AgreementA promise not to work for a competitor or start a competing business for a period after a relationship ends - enforceable in some states, sharply limited in others, and void in a few.
• Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)A contract restricting what one or both sides may do with information the other shares - and, unlike trade secret law, it binds only the person who signed it.
• Operating AgreementThe private contract among an LLC's owners that decides who controls the company, how money is split, and what happens when someone leaves - or the state's default rules decide it for them.
• Personal GuaranteeA promise by an individual - usually a business owner - to pay a company's debt personally if the company does not, which puts the owner's own assets behind the loan or lease regardless of the entity's liability shield.
• Piercing the Corporate VeilThe exception under which a court holds an owner personally liable for a company's debts, despite the limited liability the company normally provides.
• Registered AgentThe person or company a business entity must designate to receive lawsuits and official notices on its behalf - and the address at which a default judgment can quietly begin.
• S Corporation ElectionA tax election, not a kind of company - what electing S status does to how a corporation or LLC is taxed, who is eligible to make it, and how it is lost.
• Starting a Nonprofit (501(c)(3) Status)How a nonprofit is formed under state law, how it gets federal tax exemption as a charity, and the rules it must follow to keep it.
• Tax Debt Relief (IRS Collection, Installment Agreements and Offers in Compromise)What the IRS can do to collect a tax debt, the rights a taxpayer has at each step, and the programs that let a debt be paid over time, settled for less, or put on hold.
• UCC Financing Statement (UCC-1)The public notice a lender files to stake its claim on a borrower's equipment, inventory, receivables or other business property - the filing that decides who gets paid first when a business fails.

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