Applying for Permanent Residence: Consular Process
Once you are the beneficiary of an approved immigrant petition and a visa number is immediately available to you, there are two main avenues for applying for permanent resident status (obtaining a Green Card). If you are outside the United States, you may apply for an immigrant visa at a Department of State consulate abroad in order to come to the United States and be admitted as a permanent resident. This avenue is known as “consular processing.”
If you are already in the United States, you can apply for permanent resident status without having to return to your home country to complete the process. This process is known as “adjustment of status.”
Steps of the Consular Procedure
- Determine Your Basis for Immigration
The first step in consular processing is to determine whether you are eligible to apply for a Permanent Resident Card (also known as a Green Card or permanent residence). Most immigrants become eligible through a petition filed on their behalf by a family member or employer. Others become permanent residents by first obtaining refugee or asylee status, or through various additional special provisions. To see the various ways to obtain a Permanent Resident Card, go to our page on Permanent Resident Card Eligibility Categories.
- File the Immigration Petition
Once you know which category best fits your situation, you will generally need to have someone file the immigrant petition on your behalf.
- Family-Based Immigrant Petition: If you wish to apply for a Permanent Resident Card based on a family relationship, a relative who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident must submit a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for you. For more information see our page Family.
- Employment-Based Immigrant Petitions: If you want to apply for a Green Card based on your employment, your U.S. employer must file a Form I-140, Petition for Alien Worker, in your name. If you intend to invest significant amounts of capital in a business in the United States, you must file the Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, in his own name. For more information, see our page Work in the United States.
- Special classes of immigrant: In some cases, you may be able to file a Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), and Special Immigrant, by himself or herself or someone else presenting it on his or her behalf.
- Humanitarian programs: Most humanitarian programs do not require you to have an immigrant petition, although you may have to meet additional requirements before you can apply for a Permanent Resident Card. For more information, see our page Humanitarian Programs.
- Wait for the Decision on your Petition
USCIS will notify the petitioner of the decision. If USCIS denies the petition, the notice will include the reasons for the denial and whether you may appeal the decision. If the petition is approved and you live outside the United States (or live in the United States but chose to apply for your immigrant visa from abroad), USCIS will forward the approved petition to the Department of State's National Visa Center (NVC), where it will remain until a visa number is available to you. See our page Visa Availability and Priority Dates .
- Wait for Notification from the National Visa Center
The National Visa Center (NVC) is responsible for collecting visa application fees and supporting documentation. It will notify the petitioner and you (the beneficiary) when the visa petition is received and then when the immigrant visa number is about to become available. It will also notify you when immigrant visa processing fees (also known as “fee bills”) are due and when supporting documentation is due.
- Go to your Appointment
Once a visa is available or the priority date is current (before the cut-off date listed on the Visa Bulletin monthly), the consular office will schedule an appointment for your interview. The consular office will complete the processing of your case and decide if the beneficiary is eligible to obtain an immigrant visa.
- Notify the National Visa Center of Any Changes
You do not have to contact the NVC about your request, as they will contact you to request the information they need. However, you should contact the NVC if:
- It changes if your address changes
- He was under 21 years old and has already turned 21, or
- He changed his marital status.
These changes may affect your eligibility or visa availability. Please see the page NVC Contact Information for information on how to get in touch.
- After your Visa is Granted
If you are granted an immigrant visa, the consular officer will give you an information packet. This packet is known as the Visa Packet. Do not open this packet.
You will have to pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee. USCIS uses this fee to process your immigrant visa package and generate your Permanent Resident Card. We encourage you to pay the fee online after you receive your visa package, but before you depart for the United States.
Once you arrive in the United States, you must give this Visa Package to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at the port of entry. You will be inspected by the CBP officer and he or she will determine whether to admit you as a permanent resident of the United States. If the CBP officer admits you, then you will have permanent resident status and will be able to live and work in the United States permanently.
- Receive your Permanent Resident Card
If you paid your USCIS Immigrant Fee, you will receive your Permanent Resident Card in the mail after you arrive in the United States. If you do not receive your Permanent Resident Card within 90 days of your arrival in the United States, please call USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283 or visit the e-Request page–Non-Delivery of Card (option only available in English).
If you do not pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee before you arrive in the United States, you will have to pay the fee before USCIS will issue you a Permanent Resident Card.
Source: Consular Procedure