Who Can Apply for a Green Card? Family, Work, and Humanitarian Paths

Green card eligibility categories fall into five broad routes: close family ties to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, an employer-sponsored (or self-petitioned) job, the diversity visa lottery, humanitarian protection such as refugee or asylee status, and a handful of special programs for narrowly defined groups. Qualifying under one of these categories is only the first gate. Every applicant, regardless of route, must also be found admissible under a separate set of health, criminal, security, and financial rules.

Family-Based Green Cards

Family is the largest source of green cards, and within it the single most important distinction is between immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and everyone else. Immediate relatives face no annual cap, which means no waiting list for a visa number. The category covers three relationships: spouses of U.S. citizens, unmarried children under 21, and parents of a U.S. citizen who is at least 21 years old. A marriage that is less than two years old at the time of approval produces a conditional green card rather than a permanent one, and the conditions have to be removed later.

Every other family relationship falls into one of four preference categories, each with its own annual visa limit and its own waiting list. The State Department’s monthly Visa Bulletin shows whose priority date is current and can move forward.¹

F1: unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens who are 21 or older, up to 23,400 visas per year.²
F2: spouses, minor children, and unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of lawful permanent residents, up to 114,200 per year, with at least 77 percent reserved for spouses and minor children.²
F3: married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, regardless of age, up to 23,400 per year.²
F4: brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens (petitioner must be at least 21), up to 65,000 per year. This category typically has the longest waits.²

Waits in the preference categories can run from a few years to more than two decades depending on the category and the applicant’s country of birth. Cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents are not eligible sponsors under any family category.

Employment-Based Green Cards

Employment-based green cards are divided into five preference tiers, each receiving roughly 28.6 percent of the annual employment visa pool, with unused visas from higher tiers rolling down.² Most require a job offer from a U.S. employer, but a few paths allow self-petitioning.

EB-1 covers priority workers: people with extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics who have sustained national or international recognition; outstanding professors or researchers with at least three years of experience; and multinational managers or executives being transferred to a U.S. office. Applicants in the extraordinary ability subcategory can self-petition.²
EB-2 covers professionals with a master’s degree or higher (or a bachelor’s plus five years of progressive experience) and individuals with exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, or business.²
EB-3 covers skilled workers with at least two years of training or experience, professionals with a bachelor’s degree, and workers in unskilled positions that are permanent and full-time.²
EB-4 covers special immigrants, including religious workers and certain employees of international organizations.
EB-5 covers immigrant investors. The standard investment is at least $1,050,000 in a new U.S. business that creates a minimum of 10 full-time jobs. The threshold drops to $800,000 for investments in a targeted employment area, meaning a rural area or one with high unemployment.³

The PERM Labor Certification Step

Most EB-2 and EB-3 applicants cannot file directly. Their employer must first obtain a labor certification from the Department of Labor, known as PERM, proving that no qualified U.S. worker is available for the position. That involves a prevailing wage determination followed by a formal recruitment process, with job postings and advertising, before the certification application is filed.⁴ PERM alone can take several months to over a year, and it has to be complete before the green card petition is even submitted.

National Interest Waiver

EB-2 applicants can skip both the labor certification and the employer sponsor by qualifying for a National Interest Waiver. USCIS applies a three-part test: the proposed work must have substantial merit and national importance, the applicant must be well positioned to advance it, and waiving the usual job-offer requirement must, on balance, benefit the United States.⁵ The waiver is common among researchers, entrepreneurs, and professionals whose work addresses broader national needs.

The Diversity Visa Lottery

The diversity visa program makes 55,000 green cards available each year to nationals of countries with historically low immigration to the United States. Winners are chosen randomly, and countries that sent more than 50,000 immigrants in the previous five years are excluded.²

To enter, you need either a high school diploma or its equivalent, or at least two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that itself requires two or more years of training.² The registration window is short. For DV-2026, entries were accepted from October 2 to November 7, 2024, and submitting more than one entry disqualifies all entries for that person.⁶ Being selected does not itself grant a green card. Winners still have to complete the full application and clear all admissibility requirements before the fiscal year ends.

Humanitarian Categories

Several paths exist for people who have experienced persecution, abuse, trafficking, or other qualifying harm. Eligibility rules vary, but these categories focus on protection rather than requiring a job offer or family sponsor.

Refugees and Asylees

If you were admitted as a refugee, you are required to apply for a green card after one year of physical presence in the United States.⁷ If you were granted asylum, you are eligible after one year of physical presence, but the application is optional rather than mandatory.⁸

VAWA Self-Petitioners

Under the Violence Against Women Act, victims of battery or extreme cruelty by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident family member can self-petition for a green card without the abuser’s knowledge or consent.⁹ Despite the statute’s name, the protections apply to victims of any gender.

T and U Visa Holders

Victims of human trafficking who hold T nonimmigrant status and victims of qualifying crimes who hold U nonimmigrant status can apply for permanent residency. The U visa is capped at 10,000 principal visas per year, which produces a significant backlog. Applicants often wait several years after filing before their petition is even processed.¹⁰ Both T and U holders generally must cooperate with law enforcement to remain eligible.

Special Immigrant Juveniles

Children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by one or both parents may qualify for Special Immigrant Juvenile status. This requires a state court order finding that the child cannot be reunited with one or both parents and that returning to their home country is not in their best interest. Once USCIS approves the classification, the child can apply for the green card itself.

Special and Narrow Programs

A few paths serve very specific populations that do not fit the main categories.

The Registry provision allows someone who has lived continuously in the United States since before January 1, 1972, to apply for a green card regardless of how they originally entered. The applicant has to show good moral character and continuous residence since arrival.¹¹

American Indians born in Canada with at least 50 percent American Indian blood cannot be denied entry to the United States and are eligible for a green card if they wish to reside here permanently. The right does not extend to spouses or to individuals adopted into a tribe.¹²

One program to be aware of only because you might assume it still applies: the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act. It offered a path for certain Liberian nationals continuously present in the United States since November 20, 2014, but the filing deadline was December 20, 2021, and it no longer accepts new applications.¹³

Admissibility: The Second Gate

Fitting into one of the eligibility categories above is only half of the analysis. Every applicant must also be found admissible, meaning they do not fall into any of the disqualifying categories that federal law spells out. Waivers exist in some circumstances, but the grounds themselves can block an otherwise eligible applicant.¹⁴

Health

Applicants must complete a medical examination by a USCIS-designated civil surgeon in the U.S. or a panel physician at a consulate abroad. The exam checks for communicable diseases that pose a public health threat and confirms required vaccinations. A mental or physical disorder associated with harmful behavior can also produce a finding of inadmissibility. As of November 2023, a completed Form I-693 is valid only while the green card application it was submitted with is pending. If that application is denied or withdrawn, a new exam is required for any future filing.¹⁵

Criminal History

A conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude, which generally covers offenses involving fraud, theft, or intent to harm, makes an applicant inadmissible. A narrow exception applies if the person committed only one such crime, the maximum possible sentence was one year or less, and the actual sentence imposed was six months or less. Any controlled substance violation is a separate ground of inadmissibility, with no comparable exception. Two or more convictions with a combined sentence of five years or more make an applicant inadmissible regardless of whether the offenses involved moral turpitude.¹⁴

Security

Involvement in terrorist activity, espionage, or certain affiliations with totalitarian organizations can result in denial. These grounds are broadly written and can apply even without a criminal conviction if the government has reason to believe the applicant participated in such activities.

Public Charge

The public charge ground screens out applicants likely to become primarily dependent on the government for basic needs. USCIS weighs the applicant’s age, health, education, skills, and financial resources. For most family-based applicants, a financial sponsor must file an Affidavit of Support promising to maintain the applicant’s household at an annual income of at least 125 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.¹⁶ The exact income figure changes each year with the updated guidelines and household size, and the public charge rules are currently subject to proposed regulatory changes, so check USCIS guidance at the time of filing.

Prior Unlawful Presence

Applicants who previously spent time in the United States without legal status face specific timing penalties. Accumulating more than 180 days but less than one year of unlawful presence and then departing triggers a three-year bar on reentry. One year or more of unlawful presence followed by departure triggers a ten-year bar.¹⁴ These bars matter especially for applicants planning to attend an interview at a consulate abroad, because leaving the country can activate a bar that did not previously apply. Waivers exist in limited circumstances but are neither quick nor guaranteed.

Conditional Green Cards

Two categories of applicants receive conditional green cards valid for only two years: those who obtained residency through a marriage that was less than two years old at the time of approval, and EB-5 investors.

Marriage-based conditional residents must file Form I-751 jointly with their spouse during the 90-day window immediately before conditional status expires. Filing too early results in rejection and return of the petition.¹⁷ If the marriage has ended or the spouse refuses to join, the applicant can request a waiver of the joint filing requirement but has to show that the marriage was entered in good faith.

EB-5 investors file Form I-829 in the 90-day window before the second anniversary of receiving conditional status. Failing to file on time results in termination of conditional residency, though USCIS may excuse a late filing on a showing of good cause and extenuating circumstances.¹⁸ Missing the deadline is one of the most consequential mistakes a conditional resident can make; it can lead directly to removal proceedings.

1
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. About the EB-5 Visa Classification
4
Flag.dol.gov. Permanent Labor Certification (PERM)
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Chapter 5 – Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability
6
U.S. Department of State. Diversity Visa Instructions
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for Refugees
8
USCIS. Green Card for Asylees
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for VAWA Self-Petitioner
10
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Victims of Criminal Activity: U Nonimmigrant Status
11
eCFR. 8 CFR Part 249 – Creation of Records of Lawful Admission for Permanent Residence
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card for an American Indian Born in Canada
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Changes Validity Period for Any Form I-693 Signed on or after Nov 1 2023
16
Federal Register. Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility
17
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. When to File Your Petition to Remove Conditions
18
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-829 Instructions for Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status