Disclaimer: We are not a law firm or affiliated with any government agency. We’re a privately owned business that provides Immigration, Tax, Court and Notary services. We are not a licensed attorney and by law cannot provide legal advice. We can listen to your concerns and refer you to a list of attorneys who may be able to assist you. All our prices doesn’t include government filing fees. Most matters concerning immigration have specific processing times based on the type of petition filed. Unfortunately, those times are procedural in nature, therefore processing times cannot be changed
Consular Processing
Once you are the beneficiary of an approved immigrant petition and an immigrant visa number is immediately available to you, there are two ways to apply for lawful permanent resident status (a Green Card). If you are outside of the United States, you may apply at a U.S. Department of State consulate abroad for an immigrant visa in order to come to the United States and be admitted as a permanent resident. This pathway is referred to as consular processing.
If you are already in the United States, you can apply for permanent resident status without having to return to your home country to complete processing. This process is called adjustment of status. For more information, see our Adjustment of Status page.
Steps for Consular Processing
The first step in consular processing is to determine if you are eligible to apply for a Green Card (lawful permanent residence). Most immigrants become eligible through a petition filed on your behalf by a family member or employer. Others become permanent residents by first obtaining refugee or asylum status, or through a number of other special provisions. To see the many different ways to get a Green Card, go to our Green Card Eligibility Categories page.
File the Immigrant Petition
When you know what category you believe best fits your situation, you usually will need someone else to file an immigrant petition for you.
If you want to apply for a Green Card based on your family relationship, a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident relative must file a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative for you. For more information, see our Family page.
Although you usually file immigrant petitions with USCIS domestically, sometimes you can file a Form I-130 petition for an immediate relative (spouse, child, or parent of a U.S. citizen) with a USCIS field office, U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. Situations where this may be applicable include:
- If you, the petitioner, are a U.S. citizen and
- There is an international USCIS field office located in the country in which you reside, or,
- If you reside within the consular office’s jurisdiction for countries in which there is no USCIS field office and exceptional circumstances (PDF, 60.52 KB) exist that warrant the local filing.
- Members of the military
- Emergency situations
- Situations involving the health or safety of the petitioner
- When in the national interests of the United States
If you want to apply for a Green Card based on your employment, your U.S. employer must file a Form I-140, Petition for Alien Worker for you. If you intend to invest significant amounts of capital into a business venture in the United States, you may file Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur for yourself. For more information, see our Working in the U.S. page.
In some cases, you may file a Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), and Special Immigrant for yourself or have someone else file one for you.
Most humanitarian programs do not require you to have an immigrant petition, although you may need to meet additional requirements before they can apply for a Green Card. For more information, see our Humanitarian page.
After Your Visa is Granted
If you are granted an immigrant visa, the consular officer will give you a packet of information. This packet is known as a “Visa Packet.” Do not open this packet.
You will need to pay a USCIS Immigrant Fee. USCIS uses this fee to process your immigrant visa packet and produce your Green Card. We encourage you to pay the fee online after you receive your visa packet and before you depart for the United States.
When you arrive in the United States, you should give your Visa Packet to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at the port of entry. The CBP officer will inspect you and determine whether to admit you into the United States as a lawful permanent resident. If the CBP officer admits you, you will then have lawful permanent resident status and be able to live and work in the United States permanently.
Receive Your Green Card
If you have paid the USCIS Immigrant Fee, you will receive your Green Card in the mail after you arrive in the United States. If you do not receive your Green Card within 45 days of your arrival, please call our USCIS Contact Center at 800-375-5283.
If you did not pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee before you arrived in the United States, you will need to pay the fee before USCIS will send you a Green Card.
What We Will Do For You
Our highly professional staff will work closely with you to obtain the information needed to accurately complete your immigration documents. Our immigration service simplifies the process of filing out U.S. immigration application helping to reduce errors that can cause rejection. You can file USCIS forms yourself but failure rate is extremely high. The USCIS rejects millions of forms yearly and can even create long-term immigration problems.
