Immigrant Visas

The goal of many of our clients is to obtain their "green card" or lawful permanent residence. This enables them to live and work in the U.S. for the rest of their lives. We can help you obtain permanent residence through one or more of several categories. These are largely grouped into two main types of permanent visas: Employment-based and Family-based immigrant visas. Another category is the Diversity Lottery Visa. Click on a category for more information.

Employment-based 

• Immigrants with extraordinary ability in business, arts, or sciences;
• Managers and Executives of international businesses;
• Outstanding professors or researchers;
• Immigrants with advanced degrees whose work is in the national interest;
• Immigrants with job offers who have a Bachelor degree or higher, or who have work experience;
• Religious workers and ministers; and
• Immigrant Investors.

Some employment-based applications require "labor certification", also known as PERM, which is a process by which the U.S. Department of Labor certifies that there is a lack of qualified U.S. workers in the position. We successfully represent our clients during this procedure as well.

Family-based

• Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens: spouses, parents or children under the age of 21;
• Adult children, whether married or unmarried, of U.S. citizens;
• Spouses and unmarried children of lawful permanent residents; and
• Brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens.

There are numerical limitations established by the Immigration and Nationality Act and each year a tabulation is made for each category by country for visas issued.  When the numbers exceed the allowable usage a backlog is created.  An individual can only process the final stages (adjustment or consular processing) at such time that a visa number is available and allocated to him or her.  As a result of the common backlogs that are created the individual’s priority date (or place in line) becomes important to the processing of a case. The priority date is established by the date of filing of the initial application. The Visa Bulletin, which is released each month by the U.S. State Department, provides the cut-off dates in each of the preference categories outlined above.

Diversity Lottery Visa

The Diversity Lottery Program allocates 55,000 new immigrant visas each year for individuals from underrepresented nations. A nation is considered underrepresented if less than 50,000 people from that nation immigrated to the U.S. in the past five years. To be eligible for the Diversity Lottery Program, you should have either a high school education, its equivalent, or two years work experience within the last five years in a job which demands two years training. You or your spouse must be a native of a nation eligible for the Diversity Lottery Program. You may be eligible if your parent was born in a country eligible to participate in the lottery. The Diversity Lottery Program randomly picks the 55,000 visa candidates. Individuals are chosen to receive the visa by chance, not by merit.

Each year, the Department of State publishes specific instructions on how to apply for the Diversity Visa. These instructions are typically made available in August, and the registration period usually begins in early October. For more information contact us.