Types of Green Cards Explained

A Green Card — officially, Lawful Permanent Resident status — is what most people mean when they talk about “getting a US residence permit.” But there’s no single path to one; family ties, marriage, employment, and a public lottery all lead there through very different processes. This guide walks through each one and what actually changes once you have it.

Key Facts

• What it grants: the right to live and work in the US indefinitely, as a Lawful Permanent Resident
• Main paths: family sponsorship, marriage, employment (EB-1 through EB-5), and the DV Lottery
• DV Lottery: roughly 55,000 Green Cards a year to natives of countries with low recent US immigration rates — Turkey qualifies, several major countries (Mexico, India, China among them) don’t — now a $1 entry fee (since late 2025)
• Standard validity: 10 years, renewable
• Conditional status: 2 years, for marriages under 2 years old at approval
• Naturalization eligibility: generally after 5 years of residence, or 3 years if married to a US citizen

What a Green Card Actually Gives You

A Green Card holder can work in almost any job, open bank accounts and take out credit, start a business, buy property, and travel in and out of the US without a visa, as long as absences stay reasonably short. Renewal happens every 10 years, and after a qualifying period of continuous residence, most holders become eligible to apply for citizenship.

See our Green Card visa options guide if you’re specifically weighing an investment-based route like E-2, L-1A, or EB-5.

Green Card Holder vs. US Citizen: What’s Different

A few concrete differences separate permanent residence from citizenship:

• No US passport — international travel still uses your original passport
• No voting rights in US elections
• Generally can’t sponsor parents or siblings the way a citizen can; sponsoring a spouse or children is still possible, just typically slower
• Extended absences matter — trips over 6 months can draw questions at re-entry, and anything approaching a year usually requires a re-entry permit filed in advance
• Some government positions are restricted to citizens only

The Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery

The DV Lottery is probably the best-known Green Card path, mainly because millions of people worldwide enter it every year during the annual registration window (typically October-November). Winning the lottery doesn’t guarantee a visa — selected applicants still need to meet eligibility requirements and complete the immigrant visa process, and annual per-country caps mean some selected applicants don’t ultimately receive a visa if their case number doesn’t come up in time.

Eligibility is nationality-based, and the list is republished every year since it can change: natives of countries that have sent relatively few immigrants to the US over the past five years qualify, while countries with historically high rates of US immigration are excluded — a list that has consistently included major countries like Mexico, India, China, the Philippines, and the UK in recent years. Turkey is on the eligible-country list. To register, you also need either a high school education (or its equivalent) or, within the last 5 years, at least 2 years of experience in an occupation that meets the US Department of Labor’s training and experience requirements.

As of late 2025, entering the lottery costs $1 — the first time a registration fee has applied; it was free before. If you’re selected and proceed with the immigrant visa process, a separate $330 fee applies at that later stage, unchanged by the new entry fee.

Family-Based Green Cards

US citizens and Green Card holders can sponsor certain relatives, though the rules differ meaningfully between the two:

• A US citizen’s spouse, unmarried children under 21, and parents fall under “immediate relative” categories, which aren’t subject to the same annual numerical caps as other family categories
• A US citizen’s adult children and siblings can also be sponsored, but through capped preference categories with longer wait times
• A Green Card holder can sponsor a spouse and unmarried children under 21, but cannot sponsor parents or siblings, and these cases move through capped categories as well

Marriage-Based Green Cards

A US citizen’s foreign spouse can obtain a Green Card by having their spouse file Form I-130 (and Form I-485 as well, if the foreign spouse is already lawfully in the US). USCIS reviews the petition primarily to confirm the marriage is genuine rather than entered into for immigration purposes.

If the marriage is under 2 years old when the Green Card is approved, it’s issued as a 2-year conditional Green Card rather than the standard 10-year one. Before that 2-year period ends, the couple must file Form I-751 to remove the conditions; once approved, a standard, unconditional 10-year Green Card follows.

Employment-Based Green Cards

Employment-based immigration splits into several preference categories, each with different qualifying criteria:

EB-1 — Priority Workers. Covers people with extraordinary ability in their field (sometimes informally called the “Einstein visa”), outstanding professors and researchers, and multinational executives or managers. “Extraordinary” doesn’t require global fame — sustained, well-documented achievement in your field is the actual bar. EB-1 generally has shorter waiting times than the categories below it.

EB-2 — Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability. For those with a master’s degree or higher (or a bachelor’s plus significant experience), or exceptional ability in their field. A subset called EB-2 NIW (National Interest Waiver) allows certain applicants — for example, those working in an area the US has a recognized shortage in — to skip the usual employer-sponsorship requirement.

EB-3 — Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers. Covers bachelor’s-degree holders, workers with at least 2 years of experience or training, and a broader “other workers” category with no formal experience requirement. EB-3 typically has the longest wait times of the three main employment categories, partly because its “other workers” subcategory draws a very large pool of eligible applicants relative to its annual allocation.

EB-4 — Special Categories. A narrower category covering specific roles like religious workers.

EB-5 — Immigrant Investors. Covers Green Cards obtained through qualifying investment, requiring a considerably larger capital commitment than the categories above. Our investment-based visa options guide covers EB-5 in full, alongside the nonimmigrant E-2 and L-1A alternatives.

With the exception of EB-1’s self-petition option and EB-2 NIW, employment-based categories generally require an employer willing to sponsor the case from the outset — a real practical constraint worth factoring in early.

How Long Does a Green Card Last?

A standard Green Card is valid for 10 years and must be renewed before it expires. Conditional Green Cards (from marriages under 2 years old at approval) last 2 years and require the I-751 process described above to become standard.

Once you’ve held permanent residence continuously for 5 years — or 3 years, if you’ve been married to and living with a US citizen spouse throughout — you generally become eligible to apply for naturalization, provided your Green Card is still valid at the time you apply.

Thinking Through Your Options

Family, marriage, and DV Lottery cases are typically handled directly with USCIS or a family immigration attorney; employment-based and investment-based categories usually involve either your employer’s legal team or an immigration attorney specializing in that category. If you’re still exploring your options and want to experience life in the US firsthand before committing to a longer-term path, a B1/B2 visit is a common, practical starting point. Request a free pre-assessment if that’s useful to you.