Green Cards

If you have a Permanent Resident green card, it will expire after 10 years and require renewal. Additionally, if you lose your card, it is important to get it replaced as soon as possible. To renew or replace your green card as a Lawful Permanent Resident, you would fill out Form I-90.

If you get a green card as a Conditional Permanent Resident, however, you cannot renew your green card. You must first remove your conditions to being a permanent resident. Depending on how you obtained your card, you have two means to do this:

• Family-Based Immigration – Fill out Form I-751, called the Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence, during the 90 day period before the card expires
• Entrepreneur or Investor-Based Immigration – Fill out Form I-829, called the Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions, during the 90 day period before the card expires

It is difficult to have a green card revoked, but it can happen. Your green card can be revoked based on several grounds, including fraud during the application process, abandonment of your residency status in the United States, or committing certain crimes listed by the INA, or Immigration and Nationality Act.

If you have any concerns about your green card being revoked, it is best to speak with an attorney as soon as possible.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has separated the green card application process into several categories:

• Family-Based Immigration – immediate family members of U.S. citizens and green card holders can apply for a green card through sponsorship from their relatives.
• Employment-based Immigration – Professionals, workers with special skills, and immigrants with exceptional abilities can apply for a green card through sponsorship from a U.S. employer.
• Special immigrant – Religious workers, minors who were victims of abuse, international broadcasters, Afghanistan and Iraq nationals, and employees of select international organizations are classified as special immigrants and usually eligible for green cards.
• Refuge & Asylum – Immigrants who would face physical harm or persecution their home countries and apply for immigration under asylum if they have lived in the country for a year. Refugees who have lived in the country for a year are also eligible.
• Victims of Human Trafficking & Crime – A human trafficking victim with a T nonimmigrant visa is eligible for a green card, as are victims of crimes with U nonimmigrant visas.
• Victims of Abuse – This measure was created to protect family members who relied on a relative’s citizenship to stay in the country. Spouses and children who are victims of abuse are eligible to apply for their own green cards.
• Registry – If you have lived in the U.S. since before Jan 1, 1972, and are a person of “good moral character” you are eligible to apply for a green card.

In addition to these methods, there are dozens of niche laws that allow people with special circumstances to apply for green cards. Our knowledgeable immigration attorneys can help you get started on your green card application and find the route that will be most convenient for you and your family.