What a Green Card gives you
Most important it gives you permanent residency in the USA. It means that you have almost the same rights as native Americans. You can work, live, leave and enter the country.
Through employment-based immigration, a U.S. employer can sponsor a foreign-born employee for permanent residence. Typically, the employer must first demonstrate to the Department of Labor that there is no qualified U.S. worker available for the job for which an immigrant visa is being sought. This process for obtaining a green card is the most complex and difficult to complete.
The first step consists of the employer petitioning the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") for a labor certification, which is an official finding that (1) no U.S. workers can be found, at the time of filing the application and in the geographic area where the job exists, who are available, willing, and able to fill the position; and (2) that your employment will not "adversely affect" the wages and working conditions of similarly situated U.S. workers.
The certification is requested by your filing an application with the employment security agency in the state of your choice, which will then complete preliminary processing of the application before forwarding it to the appropriate regional office of the DOL.
The application consists of a two-part application form, Form ETA 750, which is six pages long. The first part of the form is a formal offer of employment to you, and must contain specific information about the duties and responsibilities of the job, and the minimum qualifications a person must have to perform the job adequately. The second part of the application is a statement of your qualifications. This part should contain details about your educational and work-related background.
Of the three steps of the application, this one is the most important. A successful application must strive to define a job that only you can do. The completed application needs to contain the aforementioned form, your résumé and educational transcripts, and some records of your employer's hiring practices.
Once the government receives this application, there are two ways in which it can test the proposition that there are insufficient U.S. workers available in your market (i.e., the state in which you are applying) who are interested in and willing to take the job. The first involves the government undertaking such a test, which is a process that can take up to three years and therefore may not be an option in all cases. The second is an accelerated track called "reduction in recruitment" (RIR) processing, which is given top priority by DOL and should take no more than six months. If you take this approach, your application will need to be filed with a packet of documents containing evidence of your employer's pattern of recruitment.
If your employer is willing to assist your application by providing some records of your hiring practices, then you can retain a local immigration specialist. That specialist will then be able to tell you more precisely what the documentation package should contain. Typically what is required is a declaration by the employer describing how he/she/it goes about hiring people for your position. For most employers, this might involve records of advertising for openings and then a specific history of each hiring, but some jobs involve hiring practices that are more repetitive and consistent, in which case the declaration could be relatively simple.
