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Permanent residents enjoy the rights to live and work permanently in the United States. After obtaining permanent resident status for 5 years (3 years if married to a US citizen), you may be eligible to apply for US citizenship.

There are several different ways you might qualify to apply for permanent resident status.

If you have been a permanent resident for at least 4 years and 9 months, you may be eligible to apply to become a U.S. citizen through naturalization.  If you have been married to and living with a U.S. Citizen for the duration of at least 2 years and 9 months while being a permanent resident, then you may be eligible to apply for naturalization.

If you have received a document from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security titled “Notice to Appear,” then you have probably been placed, or will likely soon be placed, in removal proceedings in Immigration Court.  This means that the U.S. government is trying to deport or “remove” you from the United States.

In some instances, you need to present your legal claim in a federal court.  Perhaps the Board of Immigration Appeals has ruled against you, and you wish to file an appeal to a U.S. Court of Appeals, and, if necessary, on to the Supreme Court of the United States.  Perhaps the U.S. government is detaining you unlawfully, and you need to present a claim in a federal district court to seek release from detention. Or perhaps USCIS has denied an I-130 Petition that you filed, and the Board of Immigration Appeals has dismissed your appeal.

If you are outside the United States and are eligible to apply for permanent resident status, then you may apply for an immigrant visa.  If approved, you will enter the United States as a permanent resident and you will receive a green card.

If you are outside the United States and are eligible to apply for permanent resident status, then you may apply for an immigrant visa.  If approved, you will enter the United States as a permanent resident and you will receive a green card.

Under United States immigration law, certain applicants for permanent residence or visas are considered “inadmissible” in the United States. This means that these people can not receive visas or become permanent residents unless they are eligible and are granted a “waiver of inadmissibility.” A waiver can be considered a pardon for the situation that makes the person inadmissible.

You may be eligible to apply for asylum if 1) You have a well-founded fear of being persecuted in your country by government agents or by people whom the government cannot or will not control AND 2) The persecution is based on one or more of the following reasons: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, membership in a particular social group.

If you became a Lawful Permanent Resident through your spouse and if, on the day you were approved, your marriage was less than two years old, then your permanent resident status is considered “conditional.”  This means that your green card will be valid for two years. Before the expiration of your two-year green card, you need to submit a petition to remove the conditions on your status.