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This information sheet outlines the several ways that it is possible to become a permanent resident of the United States. For more information about permanent residence in general, ISSS recommends consultation with a qualified immigration attorney. For information about permanent residence sponsorship for full-time employees of the University of Pennsylvania, please see our information sheet Permanent Residence at Penn.

What Is Permanent Residence?

A person who has permanent residence status in the United States has the right to live and work in the US without restriction. This right may last for a lifetime, or it can be ended in some circumstances by an uninterrupted absence from the United States of more than a year or two.

Permanent residents are said to have immigrant status in the US, in contrast to foreign nationals who are here temporarily in nonimmigrant status, such as F-1 students, J-1 scholars or H-1 temporary workers. In popular parlance, a permanent resident is said to have a "green card," an outdated reference to the permanent residence identification card, which used to be green but is now a pale red, white and blue. Permanent residents are also often said to have "PR."

Permanent residence is not the same as citizenship. Permanent residents of the US remain nationals of their home country. They do not hold US passports and they do not owe allegiance to the US. They may not vote in elections and they may not hold elective office. After a certain period of physical presence in the US (five years in most cases, three in some), permanent residents can apply for US citizenship if they choose, but it is not necessary to become a citizen to retain the right of permanent residence.

Obtaining PR: Four Narrow Roads and a Game of Chance

The laws governing immigration in this country of immigrants have changed drastically over the years. At some times in the past, entrance was open to almost any able-bodied individual who could afford the cost of passage. At other times, flagrantly discriminatory laws barred some nationalities while encouraging others to become part of the American people. At present, legal immigration is tightly limited, with preference given to close family members of those already in the US and the professionally skilled and talented who come to the country to take up specialized or high level jobs. Within these limits, various provisions of current immigration law attempt to insure equity and national diversity in the continued flow of new residents to the US.

It is possible, at present, to become a permanent resident of the US in any of five ways: through the petition of a close relative, by a successful application for political asylum, through the petition of an employer, or a petition to have your work recognized as in the national interest, or by winning the annual green card lottery.

Family-Based PR

If you have a mother, father or spouse who is a citizen or permanent resident of the US, that relative may be able to file a petition with USCIS

to obtain permanent residence for you. If you have a child who is a citizen of the US and is at least 21 years old, or a brother or sister who is a citizen, that relative can also petition for permanent residence for you. Depending on the relationship between you and whether your relative is a citizen or permanent resident, it can take several months to many years for you to obtain permanent residence in this way.

Asylum

If you can prove to the satisfaction of immigration officials that you have a well-founded fear of persecution should you be forced to return to your home country, you may be able to obtain permanent residence in the US through an appeal for asylum. An asylum application often takes years to complete and is best done with the aid of an attorney. The majority of asylum applications are eventually denied, although applicants from countries whose governments are considered by the US to be hostile to the United States have often experienced a higher approval rate.

Employment-Based PR

If you have a permanent, professional level job in the US, and if your employer can prove that there are no qualified US citizens or permanent residents available for the position, you may be able to obtain permanent residence through the petition of your employer. (Different standards apply in the case of university faculty positions and for outstanding university reseachers and teachers; for these, see our "Permanent Residence at Penn.")

A professional worker may obtain permanent residence when first entering the US to take up a senior position. More often, however, a foreign professional will begin working on an extension of a US student visa or as a temporary worker on an H-1 visa. At some point- a point that may come almost immediately or only after several years- the employer may be able to petition successfully for permanent residence for the worker. When an employer can start the permanent residence process is determined by when it can be shown that there are no qualified American workers available for the position. In some fields, this is often not possible for entry-level positions but becomes possible after the foreign worker acquires experience and is promoted to a higher position. In other fields, where entry-level qualifications may be highly specialized or where there is a chronic shortage of American workers, it is sometimes possible to petition for permanent residence immediately. The employment based application process can take anywhere from several months to several years from start to finish, depending on the filing location and the length of a variety of processing backlogs that can come into play.

National Interest Waiver

If it can be demonstrated that the work that you are doing is (1) in the national interest and that (2) your continued presence is crucial to the on-going work, you - acting on your own - or your employer acting on your behalf may be able to obtain permanent residence through a "national interest waiver." A letter from an interested US government agency recommending the waiver is very useful when applying for a national interest waiver.

Because employment based permanent residence and the national interest waiver are complex processes requiring considerable expertise, it is very important to have the assistance of an employer's immigration specialist or a qualified immigration attorney. If you are thinking about obtaining employment based permanent residence in the US or a national interest waiver, it is a good idea to consult with an immigration attorney early on to get a clear understanding of the factors that are likely to be important in your case. You should consider such a consultation even if you don't yet have a permanent job, since the knowledge you gain may help you in negotiating with an employer or deciding which job offer to accept.

The Diversity Lottery

After several prior experiments in making permanent residence available through a lottery system, Congress in 1993 instituted the diversity lottery program. This program allots 55,000 green cards every year under a complex formula that favors nationals of countries that have contributed fewer immigrants to the US in recent years. Recent diversity lotteries have favored applicants from Africa and most of Western Europe, since these areas have been least represented in immigration to the US in previous years. More than 6.5 million people applied for the first annual diversity lottery. Regional allocations for the diversity lottery will change every year in response to changing immigration patterns. Registration for the diversity lottery, which takes place for a thirty-day period at different times of the year, is very simple and does not require an attorney. ISSS will have diversity lottery information available, including application instructions, prior to each application period.