Permanent Residency (Green Cards)

How do I get a green card in Florida?

Almost every green card comes through one of five routes: a family petition, an employer or self-petition in an employment category, asylee or refugee status held for a year, the annual Diversity Visa lottery, or a special program like VAWA, U/T visas or the Cuban Adjustment Act. Which route you qualify for is decided by your relationship, your work, or your history, not by preference. The first job at a consultation is identifying every category you fit, because more than one is common.

Family-based

The largest category. Spouses, parents, and unmarried children under 21 of U.S. citizens are immediate relatives with no annual cap; siblings, married children, and family of LPRs are subject to multi-year waits in family preference categories. For spouses specifically, read our step-by-step guide to getting a green card through marriage to a U.S. citizen. More about family-based.

Employment-based

• EB-1A — extraordinary ability (self-petition).
• EB-1B — outstanding researcher/professor.
• EB-1C — multinational manager/executive (no PERM).
• EB-2 — advanced-degree professionals or exceptional ability. PERM-required unless qualifying for the National Interest Waiver (EB-2 NIW).
• EB-3 — skilled workers, professionals, other workers. PERM required.
• EB-4 — special immigrants: religious workers, juvenile court dependents (SIJ), some military, and others.
• EB-5 — investor (regional center or direct investment).

Refugee / Asylee

Asylees can apply for adjustment of status to LPR after 1 year of continuous physical presence. Refugees follow a similar path. More about asylum.

Diversity Visa lottery

An annual lottery (DV-2026, DV-2027, etc.) administered by the State Department. Roughly 50,000 visas are issued annually to applicants from countries with low U.S. immigration rates. Selection is random; we assist with consular processing once selected.

Special programs

• U-visa to green card — crime victims who have held U status for 3+ years.
• T-visa to green card — trafficking victims.
• VAWA — abused spouses, parents, and children of U.S. citizens or LPRs.
• SIJ — Special Immigrant Juveniles.
• Cuban Adjustment Act — Cuban nationals after 1 year and 1 day of physical presence.
• NACARA, HRIFA — country-specific programs for Central American and Haitian nationals.
• Registry — for those continuously present since before January 1, 1972.

Can I apply for a green card while I am in the U.S.?

Yes, if you entered lawfully and a visa is available to you, the filing is adjustment of status on Form I-485 and you stay in the United States for the whole case. You can also apply for a work permit and Advance Parole while it is pending. If you are abroad, or you entered without inspection and need a waiver first, the case runs through a U.S. consulate instead.

What is the difference between adjustment of status and consular processing?

Adjustment of status is decided by USCIS while you remain in the country; consular processing is decided by a U.S. consulate abroad and you become a permanent resident at the moment you are admitted on the immigrant visa. Adjustment lets you work and travel while waiting. Consular processing skips the separate adjustment step. The choice usually follows where you are and how you entered, not what you would prefer.

Most green card cases end with one of those two procedural choices:

• Adjustment of status (Form I-485) — for applicants in the U.S. with lawful entry. Stay in the U.S. throughout. Eligibility for EAD and Advance Parole during the wait.
• Consular processing — for applicants abroad (or those who must depart, often after an unlawful-presence waiver). Final interview at a U.S. consulate; immigrant visa issued; entry on the visa is the LPR admission.

How long does permanent residency take in Central Florida?

An immediate relative of a U.S. citizen adjusting status here generally waits 10 to 14 months from filing to the interview at the USCIS Orlando Field Office. Capped categories are governed by the monthly State Department Visa Bulletin instead, so a sibling petition can run well past a decade regardless of how fast the paperwork is prepared. Employment cases add PERM and priority-date time on top. Your receipt notice is the only date that governs your case.

What happens after I get the green card?

You can work for anyone, travel internationally within limits, petition for your own family members, and after five years, or three if you are married to a U.S. citizen, apply for naturalization. The limit that catches people out is travel: extended absences can break continuous residence and be treated as abandoning permanent resident status.

LPRs can travel internationally (with limits — extended absences abroad can break continuous residence and abandon LPR status), petition for family members, and after 5 years (or 3 with marriage to a U.S. citizen) become eligible for naturalization. We advise on travel, re-entry, abandonment risks, and the path to citizenship and naturalization.