1. How do Nepalis obtain a green card in the United States?
The author of this article, Alpana Bhandari, earned her law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law. She founded Prime Legal Consultants and Research Center.
A Green Card, also known as a Permanent Resident Card, is a form of identification that proves a person’s permanent residency in the United States. A green card is a document that allows a non-US citizen to gain permanent residency in the United States. Many more people from other countries want a green card because it allows them to live and work legally in the United States for three or five years before becoming eligible for citizenship.
2. Green Cards are classified into three types:
- Nepali Green Card Lottery Winner’s Green Card
- Employment-Based Green Card Categories
- Green Card classifications based on family ties
- Obtaining a Green Card through a Family Relationship
The United States of America has made the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery available to a limited number of countries, including Nepal. Through an electronic system, the United States will grant permanent residency to 50,000 immigrants from all over the world. One of the long-standing pillars of the Green Card program has been ensuring that families remain together when one member immigrated to the United States. Immediate relatives of US citizens or Green Card holders, as well as people who marry US citizens or Green Card holders, are also eligible for a Green Card. Category restrictions apply to each individual case.
Furthermore, applicants must endure a waiting period before obtaining a Green Card, which varies greatly depending on the category.
Relatives/spouses of Green Card holders in the United States
Immediate family members of Green Card holders are eligible to immigrate to the United States. According to American immigration law, not only US citizens, but also Green Card holders (Permanent Residents) have the right to file an application to bring the family members to the US through Green Card.
Bringing family members to the United States is subject to restrictions.
According to US immigration law, the following family members of Green Card holders are eligible to apply for a Green Card:
Exceptional potential in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics; The United States government grants green cards to Nepali citizens who demonstrate exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics.
This includes a number of Nepalis who take the US Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) in order to be eligible for clinical practice in the US. Those who pass the exams can apply for a Green Card if they agree to work full-time in clinical practice for a set period of time.
3. As a Special Immigrant, you can apply for a Green Card.
This category includes Nepali religious workers who are members of a religious denomination and came to the United States to work for a nonprofit religious organization. International organization employees or family members, as well as NATO-6 employees or family members, are included.
Many Nepali pastors have obtained green cards as a result of this procedure. Under this category, Nepali priests have also traveled to the United States.
4. As a result of refugee or asylum status, you may be eligible for a Green Card.
Individuals who are physically present in the United States, regardless of how they arrived or their current immigration status, may seek asylum through the affirmative asylum process. They do so by submitting an application to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Asylum Office.
Unless they can demonstrate changed circumstances that materially affect their eligibility or extraordinary circumstances relating to the delay in filing, asylum seekers must apply for asylum within one year of their last arrival in the United States, and that they did so within a reasonable amount of time given those circumstances.
Only in the context of “defensive” asylum proceedings do Immigration Judges hear asylum applications. Asylum seekers seek asylum in order to avoid deportation from the United States. Such cases are heard in adversarial proceedings before Immigration Judges.
If the applicant is found ineligible for asylum, the IJ determines whether the applicant is eligible for any other forms of relief from removal and, if not, deports the individual from the United States.
During the twelve-year Maoist insurgency, Nepalis obtained Refugee or Asylum Status and, as a result, a Green Card. Still, the Nepalis have cited threats from the Limbu community, which has raised concerns about their inclusiveness and claimed refugee or asylum status, as well as obtaining a Green Card.
Nepalis with Refugee or Asylum Status may be eligible to apply for a Green Card as an asylum seeker if they were granted asylum status at least one year ago, or as a refugee if they were admitted to the United States as a refugee at least one year ago.
5. Human Trafficking and Crime Victims Can Apply for a Green Card
Green Cards are issued by the United States government to victims of human trafficking and crime. You may be eligible if you are a victim of human trafficking and currently have a T nonimmigrant visa, or if you are a crime victim and currently have a U nonimmigrant visa.
6. Victims of Abuse Can Apply for a Green Card
Victims of Abuse in Nepal can apply for a Green Card. If you are the abused parent, spouse, or child of a US Citizen, you are eligible to apply as a VAWA self-petitioner–victim of battery or extreme cruelty. You are an abused Nepali citizen’s spouse or child. You are the abused spouse or child of a lawful permanent resident who obtained your Green Card based on an Abuse victim.
7. Green Card through the Registry
If a person has lived continuously in the United States since before January 1, 1972, he or she is eligible to apply for a Green Card. Processes that occur both inside and outside of the body: If you are eligible to apply for a Green Card in any of the categories listed above, the first step is to decide which process to use.
There is ‘adjustment of status,’ which must be done while in the US, and ‘consular processing,’ which is for candidates who live outside the US.
8. Immigrant petition
Someone must file an immigrant petition on your behalf, also known as sponsoring. In some cases, depending on your eligibility, you may be able to do it on your own.
9. Where do I go to apply for a Green Card?
A Green Card is an immigrant visa that permits you to live and work in the United States. There are several ways to apply for an immigrant visa in order to live in the United States permanently. All applications are generally sent to and processed by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
After the Green Card application has been approved by USCIS, the primary Green Card applicant will be invited to complete “consular processing” at the US embassy in their home country. Green Card applications have been required to be completed and submitted online since 2004.
conclusion
Ms. Alpana Bhandari has been supporting and coordinating cases of Refugee or Asylum status for many years.f you need such legal assistance, please contact us at +977-9849517735 or info@corporatelawyernepal.com.np
Alpana Bhandari is a founding partner and CEO of Prime Legal Consultants and Research Center. She graduated from American University Washington College of Law. She specializes in corporate/arbitration and family law.
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