Davis & Associates

An immigrant visa (also known as a “green card”) can be obtained inside or outside of the US.

An immigrant visa can issued in the United States or at a designated US consulate in the applicant’s country of birth and/or citizenship.  Whether a person can apply for the immigrant visa inside the US or whether they must apply at a consulate is determined by a number of factors, including their immigration history.  The purpose of this article is not to help you decide which process is right for you, but rather to illustrate the process itself.  You should speak with an attorney experienced in immigration law in order to find out which process is appropriate for your particular case.

Inside the United States

When an immigrant visa is sought inside the United States the process is called “adjustment of status.”  The only governmental agency involved is US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Form I-485, which can be found at the USCIS website (www.uscis.org), is a four page form that an applicant for permanent residency must complete, sign, and submit to USCIS.  The fee is $1010 and the entire amount must also be submitted with the form in order for USCIS to process the application.

Once USCIS receives the form, they send a receipt notice to the applicant.. The receipt notice states the name of the form submitted, the date submitted, and the fee collected.  A few weeks after that USCIS issues a biometrics appointment for the applicant where his or her picture and fingerprints will be taken.

USCIS will then schedule an interview appointment for the applicant at the appropriate district office.  The interview is normally scheduled within nine months to one year after the I-485 is filed.  However, background checks of the applicant may delay the process for much longer.

Once the application for residency is approved, the permanent resident card (the “green card”) arrives in the mail a couple of weeks later.

Outside the United States

Applying to receive an immigrant visa outside of the United States is known as “consular processing.”  Consular processing involves multiple government agencies such as USCIS, the National Visa Center, and the Department of State.

The process begins by receiving and paying for the immigrant visa fee bill sent by the National Visa Center.  The cost of an immigrant visa abroad is $355.  There is also a $70 fee for review of the Affidavit of Support which is often, but not always, required for immigrant visa processing.

NVC will send an instruction packet a couple of months after receiving the fee bills.  The instruction packet will contain information on what forms and documents must be submitted for the immigrant visa.  This will vary according to the particulars of the intending immigrant’s case but typical documents required are birth certificates, marriage certificates, and copies of passports.

Once the instruction packet is submitted, the applicant must now wait until an immigrant visa interview is scheduled for him or her at the appropriate US consulate.  This waiting time can be long – up to a year or more for some countries – but the National Visa Center and the Department of State are working together to reduce waiting times.

Eventually an immigrant visa interview is scheduled and the intending immigrant must attend it in order to receive their visa.  A person must be prepared to make travel arrangements and accommodations since they will typically need to travel in order to attend the interview.  There is only one US consulate per country designated by the Department of State to process immigrant visas.  For Mexico, that consulate is in Cuidad Juarez.  The person will also need to submit to a medical exam before their interview, so it is recommended that the person arrive a few days before their appointment in order to do so.  The cost of the medical exam will vary and can be well in the hundreds if multiple services are provided for you by the doctor, such as vaccinations.  The intending immigrant should take their immunization record with them to the exam.

If the immigrant visa is approved at the interview the person received a stamp in their passport which will function as proof of their permanent resident status until the green card comes in the mail.