Immigrant Visas

DWT's Immigration Practice Group has extensive experience working with employers and their employees, as well as with individual clients, to obtain permanent residency in the United States through immigrant visas (commonly called "green cards"). Obtaining a green card can be time consuming and expensive, so it is important to choose the best approach at the outset. Many employment-based categories require a "labor certification" from the U.S. Department of Labor to verify that U.S. workers are not available for the job in question, and most family-based categories are subject to backlogs which require a waiting period of several years or longer. We have experience obtaining green cards in all of the employment-based categories, as well as family-based green cards for spouses of U.S. citizens and other relatives. We also handle reentry permits (to preserve green-card status while temporarily working overseas) and naturalization applications to become a U.S. citizen.

Immediate Relatives. We regularly assist individuals who apply for permanent resident status for their spouse, children under age 21, or parents. Applying for a spouse involves extensive paperwork, but it is fairly routine if the spouse is already residing in the United States at the time of the marriage. For persons who become engaged or married while living overseas, it is important to consider whether to apply for the immigrant visa overseas, to enter the United States under a K 1 fiancée visa, or to take advantage of the new K 3 visa to facilitate entering the United States while the immigrant visa petition is being processed.

Extraordinary Aliens, Multinational Executives, Outstanding Researchers (EB-1). The first preference category of employment-based green cards is for aliens of extraordinary ability, outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives. The advantage of filing under the EB 1 category is that no labor certification is required (the availability of qualified U.S. workers is not an issue).

Professionals with Advanced Degrees and Persons of Exceptional Ability (EB-2). The second preference category is for persons with "exceptional ability" (defined to mean a degree of skill and ability above that ordinarily encountered in the sciences, arts or business) and professional workers who have a master's or higher degree (or a bachelor's degree plus five years of progressive post-baccalaureate experience). EB-2 petitions require a labor certification (discussed below) unless the person qualifies for a "national interest waiver." The national interest waiver requires proof that (1) the alien's occupation is in an area of substantial intrinsic merit, (2) the alien's work will benefit the nation as a whole (rather than just a local geographic area), and (3) the alien's ability to contribute to the national interest is substantially greater than the majority of his or her colleagues in the field, such that it outweighs the national interest in protecting U.S. workers through the labor certification process.

Professionals and Skilled Workers (EB-3). Persons who fall into the third preference category require a labor certification from the Department of Labor to verify that there are no U.S. workers qualified, willing and able to perform the job offered to the foreign worker. The labor certification process involves advertising the job to U.S. workers over a period of six months in a manner that is normal to the company and normal to the industry. It is a time consuming and challenging process, but we have assisted many clients with obtaining green cards, including ethnic cooks, and computer professionals.

U.S. Citizenship. We assist individuals who wish to apply for U.S. citizenship. The basic requirements are (1) five years of continuous residence in the U.S. after being lawfully admitted for permanent residence (three years in the case of spouses of U.S. citizens); and (2) physical presence in the U.S. for at least half of such five-year (or three-year) period. Absence from the United States for a continuous period of one year or more during the five-year period breaks the continuity of such residence in most cases. Absence from the United States of more than six months but less than one year during the period also breaks the continuity of such residence, unless the applicant can establish that he or she did not abandon his or her residence in the United States during the absence.

return to Legal Services main page