A green card, officially known as known as "United States Lawful Permanent Residency," authorizes an individual to live and work in the United States permanently. Individuals seeking a green card through employment can apply from their home country once they are assigned an immigrant visa number, which is organized based on the following preferences:

• First Preference: Individuals with special abilities, distinguished academics, professors, and researchers, and international executives
  
• Second Preference: Professionals with an advanced degree or workers with exceptional talent
  
• Third Preference: Skilled workers and professionals
  
• Fourth Preference: Individuals under special circumstances, and certain religious workers
  
• Fifth Preference: Immigrant investors, who must invest between $500,000-$1,000,000 in a venture that creates at least ten new jobs for U.S. citizens or other lawful permanent residents and immigrants.
  

How to Get a Green Card
There are four basic employment-related ways to obtain a green card, including:

• Green Card through a job offer: An which an individual can apply for a green card after receiving a formal offer to work in the United States
  
• Green Card through investment: An individual establishes a business venture that creates new jobs in the U.S.
  
• Green Card through self-petition: Distinguished individuals with exceptional abilities, or specific individuals who are granted a National Interest Waiver, can file a green card for themselves.
  

Special Category Green Card: This category include workers in the established special      immigrant categories, such as broadcasters, international employees, and religious workers, for example.

Green Card Lottery Program

• The annual green card lottery program (Diversity Immigrant Visa Program) is an opportunity for potential immigrants to obtain the status as a permanent legal resident of the USA. This program runs each year and provides 55,000 "Green Cards" to applicants randomly selected in a lottery process - known as the Green Card Lottery.