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Green Card pathways: family, employment, investment
A green card can be reached through several doors, and the right one depends on your circumstances, not on which is most famous. This guide maps the three principal pathways, family-based, employment-based (EB-1 through EB-5), and investment, and explains the machinery that governs all of them: priority dates, per-country limits, and the monthly Visa Bulletin.
What you’ll learn
- Family-based categories: immediate relatives vs preference categories
- The employment-based tiers EB-1 to EB-5 and who fits each
- How priority dates and the monthly Visa Bulletin actually work
- Per-country limits and why some nationalities wait far longer
- Adjustment of status vs consular processing for the final step
- Where the Diversity Visa lottery fits, and its real odds
- How conditional residence and the 90-day rule affect new residents
It explains the difference between immediate-relative categories with no wait and preference categories that can take years, how the employment-based tiers rank, and where the Diversity Visa lottery fits. The goal is to help you see, realistically, which pathways are open to you and how long each is likely to take.
Educational content only, these guides are not legal advice.Read the full disclaimer →
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H-1B, O-1, L-1, EB-2, EB-5, F-1, J-1: the labels hide real differences in who can apply, who sponsors, and how long each takes. Side by side, they narrow to the one or two routes actually worth your time.
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