Permanent Residence Houston Green Card Lawyer

Permanent Residence - a Green Card

Houston is a friendly city with a booming economy. It is also a diverse place, and people come from around the world to live here. For a person from another country to move to Houston indefinitely or permanently, he or she must seek to become a permanent resident.

Houston Permanent Residence - Green Card Lawyer

If you've made the choice to seek permanent residence, if you are an employer seeking to hire a person from out of the United States for a permanent position, or if you a permanent resident seeking to become a U.S. citizen, a Houston immigration lawyer can assist you in the often complex process of attaining your goals.

Kathryn Karam and her team at Karam Immigration Law have taken on complex cases and difficult immigration matters, finding creative solutions to help people become permanent residents and U.S. citizens. Call Karam Immigration Law today at (832) 582-0620 to set up a consultation.

Karam Immigration Law assists people seeking assistance with permanent residence or naturalization matters in the Houston area, including Sugar Land, Alief, Sharpstown, Bellaire, Spring Branch, The Woodlands, Clear Lake, League City, Kingwood, Cypress or Tomball.

Information on Green Cards and Citizenship

Privileges of a Green Card
Employment-Based Permanent Residence
Green Card Sponsorship Through Houston Family
Other Ways to Obtain Permanent Resident Status
Can I Lose My Permanent Residence?
Conditional Residence Based on Marriage
Seeking Permanent Residence in the Houston Area

Each of these Green Cards and Citizenship topics are detailed below.

Privileges of a Green Card

Getting a "green card" means to become a permanent resident. You receive a form of ID that is a card that says the date you became a permanent resident and has a code that indicates how you became a permanent resident (for example, through employment, a family member, or other means).

As a permanent resident, you will be free to move about the United States, work in any legal job, come and go from the country (with some restrictions involving long absences or criminal history) and serve in the Armed Forces. In fact, male permanent residents older than 18 are required to sign up for Selective Service, meaning they could be drafted into the Armed Forces (although a draft has not happened in decades).

Employment-Based Permanent Residence

When a person who is not a citizen or permanent resident is offered a permanent, full-time job in the United States, he or she must obtain a green card. The employer must petition for permanent resident status for the employee.

People seeking employment-based green cards are sorted into different priority groups. Generally, the more skill a job requires and the more qualified the person is, the higher priority group he or she will be grouped into. People with internationally recognized ability may receive a visa upon applying, where unskilled workers may have to wait a decade or more.

Green Card Sponsorship Through Houston Family

A U.S. citizen or permanent resident has the option of sponsoring certain family members for a green card. The status of the sponsoring person and the relationship with the person being sponsored are key factors in determining the wait time for the visa.

A U.S. citizen can sponsor a spouse, unmarried son or daughter younger than 21, or, if older than 21, a parent with no wait time, at all. Children of U.S. citizens older than 21 or who are married, brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens, and the spouses and unmarried children of permanent residents, however, can have wait times that last decades.

Since the filing of a family-based petition does not confer legal status, a person who subject to a long wait for their permanent residence should meet with an attorney to determine if any short-term or temporary options are available to remain in the United States until they are able to apply for permanent residence based on their family petition.

Other Ways to Obtain Permanent Resident Status

If you are investing a certain amount of money into a business or property in the Houston area, you may self-petition for a visa under the Immigrant Investor (EB-5) program. Those who obtain residence through the EB-5 immigrant investor program are issued a conditional resident card valid for two years. Before the expiration of their conditional residence, they must file to remove the conditions on their residence. If successful, they are issued permanent, 10-year resident cards as are all other applicants for residents.

If you are a refugee or seek asylum from oppression in the United States, you may qualify to apply for a green card. If you are the victim of domestic violence, either as a spouse or child, you may also be able to obtain permanent resident status under certain conditions.

If you are from one of several countries with low rates of immigration to the United States, you may be able to obtain permanent residence through the Diveristy Visa Program or "green card lottery," in which people are randomly selected by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for one of 50,000 green cards.

Can I Lose My Permanent Residence?

Yes. You could lose your status if you stay outside the country too long, move to another country, fail to file income taxes or otherwise demonstrate that you do not intend to be in the U.S. permanently. In addition, permanent residents may be deported from the United States if they commit certain crimes.

If you think you may be at risk of losing your permanent residence, talk to an experienced immigration lawyer immediately – there may be actions you can take to protect your permanent resident status. For example, if you obtained your permanent residence through employment, you should not necessarily lose your permanent resident status if you lose your job. If you obtained your residence through a family member, you do not lose your permanent residence if the family member who filed a petition for you to get your green card dies. If you obtained your permanent residence based on marriage, you should not necessarily lose your permanent residence if you divorce your U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse after you have been issued your green card.

However, permanent residence status does expire after 10 years. You must renew your resident card to maintain proof of your status.

Conditional Residence Based on Marriage

Those who obtain their green card through a marriage that is less than two years old when their green card applications are approved are issued a conditional resident card valid for two years. This means that there are conditions attached to the green card which must be removed before the card expires. After successfully removing the conditions on their residence, these individuals are issued permanent, 10-year resident cards as are all other permanent residents.

If you are a Conditional Resident and do not apply to remove the conditions on your residence, you will be placed in immigration court, so it is important to file to remove conditions on your residence, even if you are no longer married to or living with your spouse.

New Immigration Policy Means More Scrutiny and Denials of Applications

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has plans to dramatically expand the definition of “public charge,” so that current green card holders as well as other visa applicants could be denied not just for being “primarily dependent on the government for survival”, which is the current standard, but also for using “one or more public benefits” in the past or being “likely at any time” to receive such benefits in the future. This new immigration policy means more scrutiny and denials of applications.