Green Card
by Debbie McGoldrickRSS 
Recent Posts
- Extending your stay with a 90 day holiday waiver - is it possible?
- Renewing my Irish child’s US passport without getting her American Dad involved
- Having divorced my American wife can I get my new Irish girlfriend a visa?
- I-94 arrival and departure cards in United States will soon be obsolete
- Can I reclaim an old Green Card and move back to the US?
Archives
“Can someone become legal by joining the U.S. military? I know of two young, intelligent people in Ireland who would love to come to the U.S. but have no prospects for doing so. They would happily join the military in exchange for a green card/citizenship. Is this possible? I imagine it would be, or should be, given that we are so short on military personnel given the wars we are fighting.”
Yours is a question that comes up from time to time, but the answer remains the same. Those eligible to join the U.S. military must be either American citizens or legal permanent residents (green card holders).
“Would it be possible for someone who has a U.S. citizen relative living in Ireland to be sponsored for a green card? A friend of mine who was born in Ireland has a U.S. citizen brother who lived here for many years, became a citizen and moved back to Ireland. My friend wants to come here and was wondering if her brother’s citizenship would be of any use to her for sponsorship purposes.”
No, it really wouldn’t, for a couple of reasons. First off, U.S. citizens can sponsor siblings for permanent residence under the family preference Fourth Category, which allocates 65,000 green cards on an annual basis.
However, the category is hopelessly over-subscribed, which means that demand is far greater than supply. For March of 2010, those who filed applications on or before November of 2000 are being called for final processing, making the wait for a sibling-based green card a minimum of 10 years, and likely much longer.
