Green Card Category Codes: Family, Employment, and Refugee Types

The two- or three-character code printed under “Category” on the front of your green card is your class of admission, and it records the exact provision of immigration law that made you a lawful permanent resident. Green card category codes matter for three practical reasons: they tell you whether your status is conditional and comes with a filing deadline, they set how soon you can apply for citizenship, and they shape what you need to travel abroad. On older cards the same information sits under “Class of Admission.”¹

The back of the card carries a separate resident-type indicator: C1 for residents living in the United States, C2 for permanent resident commuters who live abroad but work in the U.S. That is not the same as the front-of-card category code, and the two should not be confused.

Family-Based Codes

Family cases split into two groups. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are not subject to annual visa caps, so their codes have no waiting list attached to the category itself.² Common immediate-relative codes:

IR1: spouse of a U.S. citizen, marriage at least two years old at admission.
CR1: spouse of a U.S. citizen, marriage less than two years old at admission. The “C” is conditional; you must file to remove conditions before the two-year mark.
IR2: unmarried child under 21 of a U.S. citizen.
CR2: child of a U.S. citizen who entered with conditional status because the qualifying parent held CR1.
IR5: parent of a U.S. citizen who is at least 21.
IW1: spouse of a deceased U.S. citizen.
IB1: self-petitioning spouse of a U.S. citizen under the Violence Against Women Act.

The second group is the family preference system, which is capped and backlogged.³ These codes carry priority dates you can track in the monthly Visa Bulletin.⁴

F11: first preference, unmarried adult sons and daughters of U.S. citizens. Roughly 23,400 visas per year.
F21: second preference (2A), spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents.
F24 / F25: second preference (2B), unmarried adult sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents.
F31: third preference, married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens. Roughly 23,400 visas per year.
F41: fourth preference, siblings of U.S. citizens where the citizen is at least 21. Roughly 65,000 visas per year, with backlogs that routinely exceed a decade for high-demand countries.

Employment-Based Codes

The employment categories run from priority workers down through skilled and other workers, then investors. The Department of State publishes the full list of immigrant visa symbols with the statutory basis for each.⁵

EB-1 Priority Workers

E11: individuals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics. No job offer required; the applicant self-petitions based on sustained national or international recognition.
E12: outstanding professors and researchers with at least three years in their field, coming to a tenured or tenure-track position.
E13: multinational managers and executives transferring to a U.S. office of their employer.

EB-2 and EB-3

E21: professionals with advanced degrees or individuals with exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business.
E31: skilled workers in positions requiring at least two years of training or experience.⁶
EW3: other workers in positions requiring less than two years of training, where the work is not temporary or seasonal.⁶

EB-5 Investor Codes

The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 set the current investment thresholds, which remain in effect through 2026 with no adjustment until January 2027.⁷

C51: investor in a new commercial enterprise inside a targeted employment area or qualifying infrastructure project. Minimum investment: $800,000.
T51: investor in a new commercial enterprise outside a TEA. Minimum investment: $1,050,000.

Either code requires the enterprise to create at least 10 full-time jobs (minimum 35 hours per week) for qualifying U.S. workers, and the position cannot be temporary or seasonal. EB-5 green cards start out conditional, and the investor must file Form I-829 to remove conditions before the two-year anniversary.

Refugee, Asylee, and VAWA Codes

RE6: refugee who adjusted to permanent residence after admission under the refugee program, following at least one year of physical presence.⁸
AS6: asylee who adjusted to permanent residence after being granted asylum in the United States, subject to the same one-year presence requirement.⁸
IB6: VAWA self-petitioner who adjusted through a lawful permanent resident spouse or parent (as opposed to IB1, which involves a U.S. citizen relationship).⁹

Refugees, asylees, VAWA self-petitioners, and special immigrant juveniles are among the humanitarian categories eligible to request a fee waiver when filing for adjustment of status.¹⁰

Diversity Visa and Special Immigrant Codes

DV1 is assigned to the principal winner of the annual Diversity Visa lottery, which makes up to 55,000 immigrant visas available to applicants from countries with historically low immigration to the United States.¹¹ DV2 covers the spouse; DV3 covers the children.

Special immigrant codes cover narrower populations:

SR1: special immigrant religious worker. Ministers have a permanently authorized category; non-minister religious workers depend on a sunset provision Congress periodically extends, currently authorized through September 30, 2026.¹²
SQ1: certain Iraqis and Afghans employed by or on behalf of the U.S. government.
SM1: foreign nationals who served in the U.S. Armed Forces for at least 12 years.
CU6: individuals who adjusted status under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966.¹³
AM1: Amerasian born in Vietnam between January 1, 1962 and January 1, 1976, fathered by a U.S. citizen, who entered through consular processing abroad. AM6 covers the same population for those who adjusted status inside the United States.¹⁴
SB1: returning lawful permanent resident who was abroad for an extended period and is reclaiming status.

If Your Code Starts with C, You Have a Deadline

CR1, CR2, C51, and T51 all give you conditional permanent residence, which lasts two years. You must file to remove the conditions during the 90-day window immediately before the two-year mark on your card.¹⁵ Filing too early results in rejection.

Marriage-based conditional residents (CR1, CR2) file Form I-751, generally jointly with the citizen or permanent resident spouse. EB-5 conditional residents (C51, T51) file Form I-829. Miss the window and your permanent resident status ends; you become removable from the United States.¹⁶

Late filings require a written explanation showing good cause and extenuating circumstances. USCIS has discretion to excuse the delay, but relying on that discretion is a gamble. This is the most common way people with valid green cards end up in removal proceedings: not because they did anything wrong, but because they missed a deadline they didn’t know existed.

Codes that do not begin with C, such as IR1, F41, E21, and DV1, are not conditional. There is no removal-of-conditions filing on the horizon for those cards.

How Your Code Affects When You Can Naturalize

The default waiting period before applying for citizenship is five years of lawful permanent residence.¹⁷ If you obtained your green card through marriage to a U.S. citizen (CR1 that has had conditions removed, or IR1), the wait drops to three years, provided you are still married to and living with the same citizen spouse.

For conditional residents, the clock starts on the date you were admitted as a conditional resident, not the date the conditions were removed. Your two years of conditional status count toward the three- or five-year requirement. But the conditions must actually be removed: if your I-751 or I-829 is still pending when you file for naturalization, USCIS will adjudicate the removal of conditions first.

How Your Code Affects Travel

Most permanent residents (IR, F-series, E-series, and DV codes) can travel internationally with just the green card for trips shorter than one year. For absences of a year or longer, apply for a re-entry permit on Form I-131 before leaving. A re-entry permit is valid for up to two years from the date of issue, but for conditional residents it expires on either the two-year mark or the date you must apply to remove conditions, whichever comes first.¹⁸

Refugees and asylees (RE6, AS6) follow stricter rules. They must obtain a Refugee Travel Document from USCIS before traveling and cannot use a passport from their home country; doing so can be treated as evidence that the fear of persecution no longer exists, which puts status at risk. Refugee Travel Documents are valid for only one year, which creates practical trouble because many countries require entry documents to remain valid for three to six months beyond the travel dates.

Where To Find Your Code

On a current green card, the code sits on the front directly under the “Category” label as a two- or three-character alphanumeric string, such as IR1, F41, or E21. On older cards, look for “Class of Admission.” If your card is lost or the code is unreadable, you can request your immigration record from USCIS or check your original immigrant visa documentation, which carries the same classification.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. New Special Immigrant Visa Classes of Admission for Employees of the U.S. Government Abroad
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1151 – Worldwide Level of Immigration
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Visa Availability and Priority Dates
5
U.S. Department of State. Immigrant Visa Symbols
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment-Based Immigration Third Preference EB-3
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. About the EB-5 Visa Classification
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1159 – Adjustment of Status of Refugees
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for VAWA Self-Petitioner
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 1 Part B Chapter 4 – Fee Waivers and Fee Exemptions
11
U.S. Department of State. Diversity Visa Instructions
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part F Chapter 2 – Religious Workers
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for a Cuban Native or Citizen
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 Part P Chapter 9 – Amerasian Immigrants
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I-751, Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence
16
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. When to File Your Petition to Remove Conditions
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I Am a Lawful Permanent Resident of 5 Years
18
USAGov. Travel Documents for Foreign Citizens Returning to the U.S.