There is no single way to get a green card. USCIS, the agency that reviews applications, sorts green cards into categories, and your path depends on your situation: whether you have a relative in the US, whether an employer (or you) can file based on work, or whether you fit a humanitarian case. Knowing which category you are in is the first step, and it keeps you away from anyone promising a shortcut.
1. Through family
This is the most common path, and it splits into two groups:
- Immediate relatives of US citizens: spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents of citizens who are 21 or older. Visas for this group are unlimited, so there is no wait for a visa number.
- Family preference categories: other relatives of citizens, such as adult children and siblings, and relatives of green card holders. These have an annual cap (generally 226,000 family visas a year in total), and each person joins a queue.
2. Through work
Employment-based green cards have five categories, EB-1 to EB-5:
- EB-1: people with extraordinary ability (sciences, arts, education, business or athletics), outstanding professors and researchers, and certain multinational managers and executives.
- EB-2: professionals with advanced degrees or exceptional ability. The national interest waiver (NIW) request falls here.
- EB-3: skilled workers, professionals and other workers.
- EB-4: special categories, such as religious workers and special immigrant juveniles.
- EB-5: immigrant investors.
For EB-1 to EB-3, the central step is Form I-140, the immigrant petition filed on the worker's behalf. In some cases workers can file for themselves. These categories share an annual cap of 140,000 visas. If you have a strong profile, read our article on the EB-2 NIW green card and the O-1 visa.
3. Through the green card lottery
The Diversity Visa program makes up to 55,000 visas a year available to people from countries with low immigration to the US. But there is a key detail for Brazilians: people born in Brazil are not eligible. I explain it in the article green card lottery: can Brazilians enter?
4. Refugee status and asylum
People who are granted refugee status or asylum can later apply for a green card. USCIS has a dedicated page for each case. For more on asylum itself, see the article asylum in the US and the risk of going back to Brazil.
Inside or outside the US
People who are already in the US in legal status can apply for adjustment of status (Form I-485). In general, you must have been inspected and admitted or paroled, be physically in the US when you file, have no legal bars, and be admissible. People outside the country go through the US consulate, known as consular processing. That is why how a person entered the US matters so much, and it is one of the points in the article on crossing the Mexico border.
The queue: priority date and the Visa Bulletin
When there are more applications than visas, a queue forms, and your place in it is your priority date. For family cases, it is the date Form I-130 was properly filed with USCIS. For work cases, it depends: it can be the date the Department of Labor accepted the labor certification or the date USCIS accepted the I-140. You can find yours on the receipt notice (Form I-797).
The State Department publishes the Visa Bulletin every month, with cut-off dates by category and country. If your priority date is earlier than the cut-off date for your category, a visa is available. A "C" means visas are available to everyone, with no queue. A "U" means they are temporarily unavailable.
Watch out for shortcuts
No one can guarantee a green card or "sell" you a spot in the queue. Be wary of anyone who charges upfront, claims to have contacts inside the government, or promises a timeline. The right path is to check your category on the USCIS website and, for your own case, talk to a licensed immigration attorney.