How to Legally Immigrate to the US: Visas, Green Cards, and Process

There are four legal ways to immigrate to the United States: sponsorship by a qualifying family member, sponsorship by a U.S. employer or a qualifying investment, selection through the annual Diversity Visa lottery, and humanitarian protection as a refugee or asylee. Each route ends the same way, with lawful permanent resident status (a Green Card), but the petition, the wait, the cost, and where you go for your interview all depend on which pathway you use. Understanding how to legally immigrate to the US starts with figuring out which of these categories fits your situation, because the rest of the process flows from that choice.

Immigrating Through Family

Family-based immigration is the most widely used path to a Green Card. A U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident files Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to start the case.¹ How fast things move depends almost entirely on the relationship.

Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizens

Spouses, unmarried children under 21, and parents of a U.S. citizen who is at least 21 are treated as immediate relatives. There is no annual cap and no waiting list. Once USCIS approves the I-130, the relative can move directly to the visa application stage.²

Family Preference Categories

Other family relationships fall into numerically limited preference categories:

F1: Unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of U.S. citizens
F2A: Spouses and children (under 21) of lawful permanent residents
F2B: Unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of lawful permanent residents
F3: Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
F4: Brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens, where the citizen is at least 21

Per-country limits stretch these waits further for applicants from high-demand countries. F4 sibling cases routinely take over a decade. Permanent residents can sponsor only spouses, minor children, and unmarried adult sons and daughters; they cannot petition for married children, parents, or siblings.³

Immigrating Through Work or Investment

Employment-based Green Cards are divided into five preference categories. Most require a U.S. employer to sponsor you.

EB-1 covers priority workers: people with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics; outstanding professors and researchers; and multinational executives or managers. Extraordinary ability applicants can self-petition without an employer.
EB-2 covers professionals with an advanced degree or people with exceptional ability. A National Interest Waiver lets some EB-2 applicants skip the employer sponsorship and labor certification requirements.
EB-3 covers skilled workers with at least two years of training or experience, professionals with a bachelor’s degree, and other workers filling positions where qualified U.S. workers aren’t available.
EB-4 covers special immigrants, including religious workers and certain international organization employees.
EB-5 covers immigrant investors who put money into a U.S. commercial enterprise that creates jobs.

For most EB-2 and EB-3 cases, the employer must first obtain a labor certification from the Department of Labor through a process called PERM. The employer has to prove it tested the U.S. labor market and could not find a qualified American worker willing to fill the position at the prevailing wage.⁴ Only then does the employer file Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, with USCIS.⁵ EB-1 applicants and EB-2 National Interest Waiver applicants skip labor certification.

EB-5 Investor Visas

The EB-5 program requires a minimum investment of $1,050,000 in a new commercial enterprise, or $800,000 if the enterprise is in a targeted employment area (a rural area or one with high unemployment). These thresholds took effect on March 15, 2022, under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act, and the next inflation adjustment is scheduled for January 1, 2027.⁶ The enterprise must create at least 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers. Investors file Form I-526 (standalone investors) or Form I-526E (regional center investors) with USCIS.⁷

The Diversity Visa Lottery

The Diversity Visa program makes up to 50,000 Green Cards available each year to people from countries with historically low immigration rates to the United States.⁸ Winners are selected randomly from all entries. To qualify you need either a high school diploma (or its equivalent through formal schooling, not a GED) or two years of work experience in the last five years in an occupation that requires significant training.⁹

Registration happens once a year during a short window, usually in the fall, through the State Department’s online system. There is no fee to enter. Being selected doesn’t guarantee a visa; you still have to pass the full interview and background check. Entries from countries that already send large numbers of immigrants to the U.S. are excluded.

Humanitarian Pathways

People fleeing persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group may qualify for refugee status or asylum. Refugees apply from outside the United States through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. Asylum seekers apply after reaching the U.S. or at a port of entry. Both can lead to a Green Card after one year of presence in the country. These processes run on different agencies, timelines, and evidentiary standards than the family, employment, and lottery routes, and this article does not cover them in detail.

Priority Dates and the Visa Bulletin

If your category has an annual cap, your place in line is set by a priority date. For family cases it’s the date USCIS receives the I-130. For employment cases requiring PERM, it’s typically the date the PERM application was filed.¹⁰

The State Department publishes a monthly Visa Bulletin showing which priority dates can move forward. When demand exceeds the annual supply for your category and country, the bulletin shows a cutoff date, and your visa number becomes available only when your priority date is earlier than that cutoff. “C” means visas are current for everyone in that group. “U” means no visas are available for now.¹⁰ A cutoff can also move backward, called visa retrogression, when demand is about to exhaust the annual limit. Checking the bulletin regularly is the only way to track your place in line.

Where You Apply: Inside or Outside the U.S.

Once your petition is approved and a visa number is available, you follow one of two tracks depending on where you are.

Adjustment of Status

If you’re already in the United States and you entered lawfully (inspected and admitted or paroled), you may be able to get your Green Card without leaving by filing Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.¹¹ The interview happens at a local USCIS field office. A visa number has to be immediately available both when you file and when USCIS decides the case.¹²

Adjustment lets you apply for a combined Employment Authorization Document and Advance Parole card alongside your I-485, so you can work legally and travel internationally while the Green Card application is pending. One warning: if you’ve accumulated unlawful presence and then travel abroad on advance parole, you could trigger inadmissibility bars that stop you from returning. Get legal advice before traveling in that situation.

Consular Processing

If you’re abroad, or in the U.S. but ineligible to adjust, your case goes to a U.S. embassy or consulate in your home country. The National Visa Center (NVC) handles the paperwork stage after USCIS approves the petition. You pay the processing fees, complete Form DS-260 (the online immigrant visa application), and upload civil documents and financial evidence. Once the NVC finds your case documentarily qualified, it schedules the consular interview.¹³ Upon approval you receive an immigrant visa stamp in your passport and enter the U.S. as a permanent resident. You can’t work in the U.S. until you arrive on that visa.

Documents, Medical Exam, and Sponsor Support

Every applicant, regardless of category, has to assemble a substantial paperwork file. Missing pieces at the interview stage can cause months of delay or a denial.

Core Civil Documents

Everyone needs a valid passport, an original or certified birth certificate, and passport-style photos meeting U.S. government specifications. If you’ve ever been married, you also need marriage certificates and, where applicable, divorce decrees or death certificates from prior marriages. Employment-based applicants add educational diplomas, transcripts, and employment verification letters.

Police Certificates

Applicants 16 and older must provide a police certificate from their current country of residence if they’ve lived there six months or more. For any previous countries, a police certificate is required if you lived there 12 months or more after turning 16.¹⁴ Some countries are slow to issue these, so request them early.

Medical Examination

Every immigrant visa applicant has to complete a medical exam with a physician authorized by the U.S. government (a panel physician for consular processing, a civil surgeon for adjustment of status). The exam covers a physical evaluation, medical history, and required vaccinations. Active tuberculosis, infectious syphilis, and gonorrhea are among the conditions that can make you inadmissible.¹⁵ The results are sealed and sent to the consulate or handed to you in a sealed envelope for your interview. The medical fee is not included in government filing fees and typically runs $150 to $500, with vaccinations billed separately.

Affidavit of Support

For family-sponsored cases and some employment-based cases, a financial sponsor files Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, proving they can support the immigrant at 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (100% for active-duty military sponsoring a spouse or child).¹⁶ The sponsor submits federal tax returns, W-2s, pay stubs, and household size details. Assets or a joint sponsor can fill any income gap.¹⁷ The obligation is legally binding and lasts until the immigrant becomes a citizen, earns 40 qualifying quarters of Social Security work credits, dies, or permanently leaves the country.

Filing Fees

USCIS charges a filing fee for every form, and most are nonrefundable even if the application is denied. Form I-485 currently costs $1,440 and now includes biometric services costs that used to be billed separately. Fee amounts change periodically; check the USCIS fee calculator before filing. For consular processing, the NVC collects an Immigrant Visa Application Processing Fee of $325 per applicant for family cases and $345 for employment cases, plus a $120 Affidavit of Support review fee when the form is reviewed domestically.¹⁸ These are paid through the Consular Electronic Application Center.¹⁹ After a consular visa is approved but before you enter the U.S., you also pay a $235 USCIS Immigrant Fee for production and mailing of the physical Green Card.

The Interview and Possible Outcomes

Bring every original document you submitted to the NVC, your sealed medical exam results, and your passport. A consular officer, or a USCIS officer in adjustment cases, places you under oath and asks questions about your identity, your relationships, and your eligibility. Digital fingerprints are taken for background checks. Most applicants learn the outcome at the end of the interview.

A refusal under INA section 221(g) is the most common non-final outcome. It means the officer couldn’t conclude you were eligible on the information provided, either because documents are missing or because the case needs additional administrative processing. You get a letter explaining what’s needed. Missing documents must be supplied within one year or you have to reapply and pay fees again.²⁰ Administrative processing has no fixed timeline. A denial on other grounds, such as criminal inadmissibility or public charge, is more serious. Some grounds allow a waiver of inadmissibility. For USCIS decisions in adjustment cases, you may be able to appeal using Form I-290B or file a motion to reopen or reconsider.

Grounds That Can Block a Green Card

Even someone who qualifies under a visa category can be found inadmissible. Knowing the main grounds before you apply saves time and money.

Health-Related

You can be inadmissible for a communicable disease of public health significance such as active tuberculosis or infectious syphilis, for failing to get the required vaccinations, or for a physical or mental condition with a history of harmful behavior.¹⁵ Drug abuse or addiction is also a health-related ground. The mandatory medical exam screens for these.

Criminal

A conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude, such as fraud, theft, or assault with intent to cause serious harm, can make you inadmissible. Drug convictions are treated harshly; even a single controlled substance offense other than simple possession of a small amount of marijuana may bar you. Two or more convictions with combined sentences of five years or more are independently disqualifying. Human trafficking and money laundering carry permanent bars.²¹

Public Charge

Officers evaluate whether you’re likely to become primarily dependent on government assistance, weighing your age, health, family situation, financial resources, and education or skills.²² A strong Affidavit of Support is the main tool for overcoming this ground in family-based cases. The specific definition and which benefits count are subject to ongoing regulatory changes, so the standard at the time you apply may differ from what was in effect a year earlier.

Fraud and Misrepresentation

Lying on an application or submitting fraudulent documents is one of the fastest paths to a permanent denial. Material misrepresentation under INA section 212(a)(6)(C) makes you inadmissible, and waivers are hard to obtain. Dishonesty discovered after the fact can result in revocation of a Green Card that was already granted.

After You Get the Green Card

Permanent resident status comes with obligations. Trips abroad longer than six months raise a presumption that you’ve abandoned residency, and absences over a year generally require a returning resident visa to re-enter. If you need to live abroad temporarily, apply for a re-entry permit before you leave. Permanent residents are expected to file U.S. tax returns every year, including on income earned abroad.

Most Green Card holders become eligible to apply for citizenship after five years of permanent residence, or three years if the Green Card came through marriage to a U.S. citizen and the marriage is intact. You need at least 30 months of physical presence in the United States during those five years, three months of residence in your current state, and good moral character throughout.²³ Holding a Green Card for the required period isn’t enough on its own; you have to actually be in the country for those 30 months.²⁴ The naturalization application is Form N-400, which costs $710 online or $760 on paper.²⁵ The process includes a civics and English language test and a final interview, followed by the Oath of Allegiance.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-130, Petition for Alien Relative
2
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Immediate Relatives of U.S. Citizen
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-130 Instructions, Petition for Alien Relative
4
U.S. Department of Labor. Permanent Labor Certification (PERM)
5
Department of State. Employment-Based Immigrant Visas
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. About the EB-5 Visa Classification
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. EB-5 Immigrant Investor Process
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card Through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program
9
Travel.State.Gov. Confirm Your Qualifications
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Visa Availability and Priority Dates
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 2 – Eligibility Requirements
13
Travel.State.Gov. Step 3: Pay Fees
14
Travel.State.Gov. Step 7: Collect Civil Documents
15
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC’s Role in Immigration
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-864, Affidavit of Support Under Section 213A of the INA
18
U.S. Department of State. Fees for Visa Services
19
U.S. Department of State. NVC Fee Payment FAQs
20
Department of State. Visa Denials
21
U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual. Ineligibility Based on Criminal Activity, Criminal Convictions and Related Activities – INA 212(a)(2)
22
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens
23
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I am a Lawful Permanent Resident of 5 Years
24
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 4 – Physical Presence
25
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Fact Sheet: Form N-400 Application for Naturalization Filing Fees