What are the requirements for immigration to the USA? US immigration law is quite complex. For people looking to start a new life there, the system can seem confusing. Immigration law depends on a few principles. These principles include family reunification, admitting immigrants who can provide value to the economy, protecting refugees, and promoting diversity. In this article, you will learn about how legal immigration works in the United States of America.

Immigration to the United States: Categories of Status

A misconception is that only lawyers need to understand basic immigration policies and laws. Below, you will find four categories under which US people fall. Since the criminal conviction may confuse you in the process of immigration, we also explain these categories. When you apply these concepts in your case, you can easily differentiate in various petitions for immigration.

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1.    US Citizens

These people are born in the US or receive citizenship after spending three to five years in the States. These citizens are safe from deportation unless they have achieved their citizenship through fraud. By achieving this citizenship, you can work legally and avail any benefit that you are eligible for. You can also submit a legal petition for your parent, child, sibling, or spouse.

2.    Lawful Permanent Resident Status or LPR

LPRs or Lawful Permanent Residents receive a green card when they arrive in the United States. With LPR’s status, you can qualify for US citizenship after living in the United States for almost three to four continuous years. More than one million immigrants receive American citizenship every year through LPR status. They can then pay taxes and work as a US citizen. They can participate in any social service and vote. Following are the types of green cards:

• Longtime-resident green cards
• Diversity lottery green cards
• Humanitarian green cards
• Employment-based green cards
• Family-based green cards

3.    Temporary Visitor Status

Immigrants who come to visit the United States for a short time will receive a temporary visa. They do not intend to stay in the country forever and return to their country after their visa expires.

Various visas offer visitors the status of a temporary immigrant. These visas include a B1 or business visa or a B2 or visitor visa. Once they complete their purpose for which they came to the US, they have to leave.

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Steps to Apply for Family-Based Immigration

For a Lawful Permanent Resident of the US, you need to follow the below steps. This way, you can legally immigrate to the United States of America. However, for this process, you need to have a family member who can sponsor you. These steps are:

Step 1: Fill the Petition

To start the process of sponsorship, the Lawful Permanent Resident family member in the US will send an email to the USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services). The mail should include a visa petition on Form I-130 of USCIS with various accompanying documents. The LRP needs to prove that their relationship with you or the applicant is real.

Step 2: Decision of USCIS

After USCIS receive the petition, the officers will go through the information and decide if they should approve your application or reject your request. If they approve, your case will move on to the National Visa Center for further processing. If they deny your request, you can file another petition after finding out what changes they need to work on to get the approval.

Step 3: Visa Availability

If you are in a Family preference group, then this step will apply to you. USCIS will not consider your permanent residence if you are not an immediate relative of your sponsor. Since the US has an annual limit on Green cards, they can approve, they rarely allow such relatives. The remaining immigrants are on the waiting list and mostly have to wait a year to find out if their visa is available.

Step 4: Visa or Green Card

If you receive an approval on your petition and your visa is available, you have to submit a permanent residence application. You can also apply for an immigrant visa from a US consulate located outside the United States. Only after applying at a consulate inside the States can you apply for a Green Card. While ensuring known as consular processing is going on, you need to fill some forms, submit the documents and go through a medical examination.

Conclusion

If you still want to understand the process of immigration in-depth, you can visit our website and find detailed information. You can also consult with our expert about the immigration process and learn how you will go through DNA testing for immigration.

For any information about immigration and DNA testing, contact us at 718-701-0292. Our professional technicians and analysts will accurately complete your DNA testing. Our experts are highly qualified and will perform DNA testing with 99.9% accuracy.

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