It’s no secret that many people living in the U.S. aren’t legally authorized to stay permanently. For those who wish to stay, there are various ways to get a green card and become a lawful permanent resident (LPR).
You can get married for a green card, but that’s not your only option. You may also be able to obtain a green card through employment, being sponsored by other family members or getting humanitarian protection.
This guide explores your options for how to get a green card in the USA without marriage.
Immigration statuses in the U.S.
Noncitizens living in the U.S. who have legal authorization to stay fall under a few categories:
- Immigrant visas
- Nonimmigrant visas
- Protection from deportation
Immigrant visas
Immigrant visas offer several green card options. You can get an immigrant visa through a qualifying relative, employment, humanitarian assistance or several narrow categories.
Nonimmigrant visas
Nonimmigrant visas—such as tourist visas, student visas and temporary work visas—authorize you to live in the U.S. temporarily.
Usually, to qualify for a nonimmigrant visa, you have to agree that you don’t want to settle permanently in the U.S. Some exceptions exist, like visas for:
- Fiancés of U.S. citizens (K-visa)
- Criminal informants (S-visa)
- Victims of human trafficking (T-visa)
- Victims of crimes (U-visa)
Thankfully, few visas that require you to agree that you won’t stay prevent you from applying for an immigrant visa later.
Protection from deportation
The government has agreed not to deport some people who otherwise lack valid status. Examples of programs fitting this category are Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS). These programs often involve humanitarian considerations that the government has concluded, on balance, justify allowing people to remain in the U.S.
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Get startedFamily-based immigrant visas
Even without a qualifying spouse, a relative may be able to sponsor you for an immigrant visa.
Petitions on behalf of immediate relatives are exempt from the visa caps, while other family petitions are subject to categorical and per-country caps.
Cap-exempt family petitions
In addition to marriage-based green cards, the law labels two circumstances as sponsorship by an “immediate relative”:
- A U.S. citizen may sponsor their unmarried children who are under 21 years of age
- A U.S. citizen who is at least 21 may sponsor their parents
Capped family petitions
Green cards sponsored by family not considered immediate relatives are called family-preference visas. Green cards sponsored by LPRs also fall into this category. Currently, each year 226,000 family-preference green cards may be issued, divided as follows:
| Preference level | Sponsor | Beneficiary | Visas issued per year |
| First preference (F1) | U.S. citizen | Unmarried children over age 21 | 23,400 plus any unused F4 visas |
| Second preference (F2A) | LPR | Spouses and unmarried children under age 21 | 87,900 |
| Second preference (F2B) | LPR | Unmarried children age 21 or older | 26,300 |
| Third preference (F3) | U.S. citizen | Married children | 23,400 plus any unused F1 or F2 visas |
| Fourth preference (F4) | U.S. citizen age 21 or older | Siblings | 65,000 plus any unused visas from any other family category |
Only 7 percent of preference visas may be issued to citizens of any particular country.
Employment-based immigrant visas
Of the ways to get a green card, employment may offer a more practical option for those who don’t have family to sponsor them or who only have family sponsorship options that are substantially backlogged. Currently, about 140,000 employment-based visas are available each year, divided into five capped preference categories:
| Preference level | Beneficiary | Visas issued per year |
| First preference (EB-1) | Persons of extraordinary ability | 40,040 plus any unused EB-4 and EB-5 visas |
| Second preference (EB-2) | Persons of exceptional ability or holding advanced degrees | 40,040 plus any unused EB-1 visas |
| Third preference (EB-3) | Skilled workers, professionals and other workers | 40,040 plus any unused EB-2 and EB-3 visas (only 10,000 may be awarded to “other workers”) |
| Fourth preference (EB-4) | “Special immigrants” | 9,940 |
| Fifth preference (EB-5) | Investors | 9,940 (at least 3,000 are reserved for investors focusing in rural or high-employment areas) |
Employment visas are subject to the same 7 percent per-country cap.
Extraordinary ability
Although difficult to get, if you are well-known in the sciences, arts, education or business, you may qualify for an EB-1 visa. Outstanding professors or researchers and some multinational executives may also qualify.
Exceptional ability or advanced degrees
You may qualify for an EB-2 green card based on an advanced degree if you earned a master’s degree, a doctorate or a foreign equivalent. You may also qualify if you have a bachelor’s degree or its foreign equivalent and five years of post-degree progressive work experience.
To qualify based on exceptional ability, you must have “expertise significantly above that ordinarily encountered in science, art or business”. In addition, you must meet at least three of the following criteria:
- Have a degree, diploma, certificate or similar award from an institution of learning related to your ability
- Have at least 10 years of full-time experience working with your ability
- Have a license or certification to practice
- Earn a salary or other remuneration commensurate with having exceptional ability
- Have membership in a professional association
- Have recognition for your achievements
Those seeking an EB-2 visa may request a National Interest Waiver (NIW), arguing that the government should bypass the labor certification and job offer requirement when:
- The beneficiary’s unique abilities or qualifications allow them to do something of substantial merit and national importance
- The beneficiary is well-positioned to achieve their goals
- It would benefit the U.S. to waive the requirement
Professionals, skilled workers and unskilled workers
The EB-3 visa is the broadest option for how to get a green card through employment. It’s available to:
- Professionals: You may qualify as a professional if you have a bachelor’s degree or the foreign equivalent. The occupation must typically require a bachelor’s, and you can’t substitute experience or education for the degree.
- Skilled workers: You may qualify as a skilled worker if you have at least two years of experience, education or training.
- Unskilled workers: You may qualify as an unskilled worker if you can demonstrate the ability to perform work that requires less than two years of experience or training. The work can’t be temporary or seasonal.
Special immigrants
Despite being treated as employment-based, not every EB-4 visa involves employment. This category includes:
- Religious workers
- Special immigrant juveniles (SIJ)
- Some broadcasters
- Some retired employees of international organizations and their family members
- Some Iraqi or Afghan nationals
- Members of the U.S. armed forces
- Some criminal informants
Investors
To obtain an EB-5 investor visa, you must invest at least $1,050,000 in a business that will benefit the U.S. and create at least ten full-time jobs.
You may alternatively invest $800,000 in an infrastructure project or a targeted area.
Humanitarian categories
Some people qualify for green cards based on humanitarian reasons, including:
The primary difference between qualifying for asylum or refugee status is location. You may apply for asylum if you’re in the U.S. and for refugee status if you’re outside the U.S.
Qualifying for asylum or refugee status requires you to show you’ve been persecuted or have a credible fear of persecution in your home country based on your:
- Race
- Religion
- Nationality
- Membership in a particular social group
- Political opinion
Victims of human trafficking may qualify for T-visas, and victims of crimes inflicting mental or physical abuse may qualify for U-visas. Both visa types require the victims to cooperate with investigating authorities.
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Get startedThe application process
For all categories, people living in the U.S. file for a green card using Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.
However, you must first obtain authorization from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to determine whether you qualify for a visa. That determination may happen years before a visa is available and varies depending on the type of green card you seek, as explained below.
Family
The U.S. citizen or LPR usually begins by filing a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative. However, an abused spouse, parent or child of a qualifying LPR or US citizen may file on their own behalf using Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er) or Special Immigrant.
Employment
Depending on your visa type, you or your employer may file:
- Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers
- Form I-360
- Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor
- Form I-526E, Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor
In addition, most EB-2 and all EB-3 petitions begin with an employer requesting labor certification from the Department of Labor. Labor certification is the process the Department of Labor uses to confirm the employer can’t find a U.S. worker to fill the position.
The following chart elaborates on the requirements of each employment visa:
| Preference category | Narrow category | Filer | Requires job offer? | Requires labor certification? | Form |
| EB-1 | Extraordinary ability | Beneficiary | No | No | I-140 |
| EB-1 | Outstanding professors and researchers and multinational executive | Employer | Yes | No | I-140 |
| EB-2 | Granted a National Interest Waiver | Beneficiary | No | No | I-140 |
| EB-2 | Not granted NIW | Employer | Yes | Yes | I-140 |
| EB-3 | All workers | Employer | Yes | Yes | I-140 |
| EB-4 | SIJs | Beneficiary | No | No | I-360 |
| EB-4 | Religious workers | Either | Yes | No | I-360 |
| EB-4 | Broadcasters | Employer | Yes | No | I-360 |
| EB-4 | All other EB-4 categories | Beneficiary | No | No | I-360 |
| EB-5 | Standalone investors | Beneficiary | No | No | I-526 |
| EB-5 | Regional center investors | Beneficiary | No | No | I-526E |
Those filing Form I-140 may also file Form I-907, Request for Premium Processing Service. For an additional $2,500 fee, you can guarantee that USCIS processes the case within 15 days for most I-140 petitions. If USCIS doesn’t process in time, they refund the fee.
Humanitarian
- Refugee status begins with referral to the United States Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). Usually, being referred starts with the intended refugee registering with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the country where they live. UNHCR decides whether the person qualifies as a refugee under international law and works with them to determine where they’ll live in the long term. When the agency concludes settling in the U.S. is in the refugee’s best interests, UNHCR refers them to USRAP. Then USRAP helps the person apply for refugee status through an interview, extensive screening and medical exam. After approval, USRAP works with the Office of Refugee Resettlement to help the refugee settle in the U.S.
- For asylum, you usually file Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal with USCIS. However, you may also raise asylum as a defense against the U.S. government attempting to deport you.
- Trafficking and crime-victim visas usually require law enforcement assistance, as you submit either Form I-914, Application for T Nonimmigrant Status or Form I-918, Petition for U Nonimmigrant Status.
Special considerations
If you’ve spent any time in the U.S. without lawful status (like most DACA recipients), you may need to submit a Form I-601A, Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver or a Form I-601, Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility. These forms request that the government waive consideration of your time in the U.S. without legal authorization when deciding whether to grant your request for a green card.
Getting a green card in the USA
Although not every option may be available to you, there are paths to obtaining a green card that don’t involve marriage for most people on nonimmigrant visas or benefiting from programs that defer deportation.
Immigration law can be tricky to navigate. Many people find it beneficial to consult with an immigration attorney as they explore how to get a green card in the USA without marriage. An attorney can help you complete your application and submit all the required documents. Or, if you don’t have a document that you should, an attorney can explain why you should still legally qualify for a visa.
Immigration attorneys are especially helpful if there are any potential hiccups in your case, like if you’re applying for asylum more than a year after your last arrival in the U.S. or have spent any time in the U.S. without authorization.
Ultimately, having someone to manage your case and assure you you’re filing the right things at the right time can significantly reduce the stress of the process in the face of so many particular rules.
Sofie is a writer. She lives in Brooklyn.
