The three primary ways that enable non-citizen individuals to become a Lawful Permanent Resident, more commonly known as a "green card holder," are through employment, through the Diversity Visa Lottery, and the most common method, through family based green card applications.
There are two main requirements that must be met for an individual to become a green card holder through a family based petition. First, the person sponsoring (known as the "petitioner") the individual (known as the "beneficiary") must be either a United States Citizen or a Lawful Permanent Resident. And second, there must be a qualifying relationship between the parties. A qualifying relationship is a relationship recognized under the Immigration law as one that qualifies an individual to apply for a green card.
Immigration law and policy categorizes qualified family relationships into two main categories: "Immediate Relatives" and "Preference Category Immigrants". While there is an annual cap on the number of people who can apply for a green card as a Preference Category Immigrant, Immediate Relatives are not subject to such a cap.
Therefore, once an Immediate Relative relationship is established between the parties, the beneficiary is immediately eligible to apply for a green card. On the other hand, the beneficiary of a preference category family based petition must wait for a green card to become available before they apply.
How long a preference category beneficiary must wait before they apply for a green cad depends on the specific relationship between the petitioner and beneficiary, as there are five distinct classes of preference category relationships, each with their own annual visa caps.
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