What to know about the Green Card
Green Card is an informal term used for the lawful permanent residency of a person in the country. This card is an immigration status that authorizes a person to permanently work and live in the country. The immigrating person has to go through a process that involves three steps to get the Green Card or permanent residency. A person who is 18 years or older and is a permanent resident of the country is required to carry their Green Card with them at all times.

What was the green card initially known as?

• Green Card is the informal name for the country’s permanent residency card.
• The card got the nickname of Green Card because of its green color, which stuck even after the color was changed.
• This card was initially known as the Alien Registration Card, which attested the status of permanent residency to a person who is an alien to the country.

What purposes does the Green Card fulfill?

• The Green Card, basically, is an identity card or a proof of the holder who has become the country’s resident permanently in a lawful manner.
• It states that this person has been officially given the benefits of immigration, which also includes the benefits of residing as well as being employed in the country.

Who can apply for the Green Card?
A person must fulfil all the eligibility requirements to apply for the Green Card. They must be eligible under any one of the following categories for the purpose of applying for the Green Card:

• Green Card through family.
• Green Card through employment.
• Special immigrant Green Card.
• Green Card through Refugee – Admitted refugee for a minimum of 1 year, and Green Card through Asylee – Asylum status given for a minimum of one year.
• Green card for a crime victim who has a U nonimmigrant visa currently, and Green Card for a human trafficking victim with a T nonimmigrant visa presently.
• Green Card for abused victims.
• Green Card through registry, which permits a person to apply for this Green Card if they have been living in the country since 1 January 1972.
• Green Card through other categories.

How is the application for a Green Card done?

• Once a person is eligible to apply for the Green Card, they have to fill in the Green Card application form as well as an immigration petition.
• In most eligibility cases, an immigration petition needs to be filed by the individual themselves.
• However, there are other eligibility cases where the immigrant petition has to be filed by someone else.

What are the common immigration petition forms to be filled in?

Here are some of the most common immigration petition forms needed to be filled in:

• Petition for alien relative.
• Petition for alien worker.
• Petition for refugee or asylee relative.
• Petition for Amerasian, widow or widower, or special immigrant.
• Petition for alien entrepreneur.
• Petition for the status of US nonimmigrant.

How can you make a renewal of your Green Card?

• The Green Cards issued between the period of January 1977 and August 1989 do not need a renewal as they did not come with an expiry date.
• The validity of this card for a permanent conditional resident is 2 years, whereas for a normal permanent resident, it is 10 years, after which it is up for renewal.
• The task of the renewal of a permanent resident’s Green Card with a validity of 10 years begins by filling the I-90 form online or on mail, which is the application to replace permanent resident card.
• The Green Card held by a conditional permanent resident is valid for 2 years but cannot be renewed; hence, there’s no need to fill form 1-90 in this case.
• A petition must be filed by a conditional permanent resident 90 days prior to the expiry date of the card in order to remove the conditions.
• If the condition is not removed, the individual will lose the permanent residency.