Immigration Differentiation

If an immigrant lives in the U.S. with the permission of the U.S. government, or more specifically, the Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS), then they are known as legal immigrants or lawful permanent residents.

Lawful permanent residents are issued permanent resident cards, commonly known as green cards, as evidence of their legal status. They may, however, have other evidence of legal immigrant status, such as a special stamp in their passports given by the INS. Lawful permanent residents have many of the same rights and responsibilities as United States citizens, including the right to work and live wherever they like. They are also eligible to receive many types of public benefits, such as food stamps. This also means that they have a number of obligations, such as the responsibility to pay their taxes.

Immigrants may continue to live in the United States for as long as they wish, unless they do something, such as committing a serious crime, which makes them deportable from the States, or they abandon their U.S. residence.

Generally speaking, to become a legal immigrant, a person must have either a relative who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, or a U.S. employer who is willing and able to sponsor them for immigration. In addition, there are a number of other ways - although limited - a person can become a legal immigrant, even if they do not have an employment offer or close relatives who are citizens or permanent residents.

Family-based immigration
About 75 per cent of all of the people who immigrate to the United States each year are sponsored by a close family member who is a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. In order to sponsor a foreign-born relative, a citizen or legal resident must file a petition for them with the INS Service Center having jurisdiction over the place where the citizen or legal resident lives. Once the INS grants that petition, the foreign-born relative will usually apply for an Immigrant Visa to come and live in the U.S. permanently. This is done at the American Consulate in the country where they are living. If the foreign-born relative is already in the U.S., and they meet certain requirements, they may be able to apply for adjustment of status using INS Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

Relatives who are eligible for sponsorship by U.S citizens include husbands/wives, children, brothers and sisters, and parents. Relatives who are eligible for sponsorship by lawful permanent residents meanwhile, include husbands/wives and unmarried children.

Employment-based immigration
Persons sponsored by a U.S. employer to come and work here on a permanent basis represent the next biggest category of immigrants to the U.S. The first step in securing most of these types of immigrant visas is to obtain a Labor Certification from the U.S. Department of Labor. Once the sponsoring employer has this document, they will file a petition using INS Form I-140, Petition for Alien Worker with the appropriate INS Service Center. If the petition is approved, the foreign-born person they are sponsoring will either get an Immigrant Visa abroad or adjust their status.

The types of jobs that may qualify for this type of visa, in order of preference, include:

1. Priority workers, including aliens of extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, multinational executives and managers.
2. Members of professions with advanced degrees, such as doctors, lawyers and engineers.
3. Skilled workers like stonemasons.
4. Unskilled workers, such as domestics and retail sales clerks.
5. Immigrant investors.

Other immigration options

Some of these include:

• The Diversity Visa Lottery
• Special immigrant status, including certain religious workers, battered spouses and widow(er)s of U.S. citizens, and certain former employees of the U.S. government or certain international organizations. Most of these benefits are applied for using INS Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er) or Special Immigrant.
• Persons granted refugee status or asylum in the U.S.
• Persons eligible for registry as a permanent resident because of long, continuous residence (since at least from January 1, 1972) in the U.S.
  Illegal immigrants
• These are non-citizens who have no legal authority to be in the U.S. They include persons who entered the States without being inspected by the INS, either over the U.S.-Canada or U.S.-Mexico border, or stowed away aboard a vessel coming from outside the U.S.

They also include any other persons smuggled into the U.S., as well as persons who came as legal non-immigrants, but who overstayed their authorized temporary stay given by the INS, or who otherwise violated the terms of their specific non-immigrant visa. Such persons have no legal right to live or work in the States, and under the law they are considered deportable or removable aliens if encountered by the INS. The INS estimates there are currently between five and six million illegal immigrants living in the United States.