The BEST Way To Get A Green Card WITHOUT Marriage!

What is the best way to get a green card without being married, without having a sponsor, or being employed by an American company? Unfortunately, there are not that many ways to get a green card by yourself, but there is one option that is available to more people than you might think. And not only can it help you get a work permit in a matter of months, but it could help you get a green card in a matter of years, putting you on a pathway to become a U.S. citizen.

Visa Options Without Marriage

So what are your options for getting a green card by yourself without marriage? And which one is likely the best choice? One of the most common ways that people think of to get a green card by themselves without marriage is usually asylum, which requires a person to be persecuted in their home country by the government or by forces that the government cannot control.

Unfortunately, in most cases asylum has to be applied for within one year of entering the U.S., and it's likely going to take ten years before you even see a green card in the U.S.. Not to mention the fact that most asylum cases are usually denied and you are likely to be put into deportation proceedings if you are not approved.

Another common option that people talk about to get a green card without marriage is the U visa, for which you need to be the victim of a serious crime. But the U visa has an enormous backlog of more than 170,000 cases, and this backlog is growing every single year. That means that, just like with asylum, you are not likely to get a green card for at least ten years through the U visa.

You also need to obtain a certification from law enforcement in order to even apply for the U visa, and if you are not able to obtain the certification, you cannot even file for the U visa at all. Another option that many people talk about is the EB1-A Extraordinary Ability visa, which is for people who have extraordinary ability in the arts, sciences, business or athletics.

By definition, this only applies to a small group of people who really stand out for their abilities. The same goes for the EB2 National Interest Waiver or the EB5...many people simply cannot meet the qualifications required to get approved. However, there is another type of visa that many people may qualify for without even knowing. And like I said, it can help you get a work permit and a green card in just a matter of years after applying.

In addition, it can:

- Help you get a Social Security card

- Give the ability to travel out of the U.S.

- Give status to your spouse and to your children

- Can grant you deferred action

- Help you overcome the permanent bar, certain criminal convictions and other immigration violations, and even false claims to citizenship

Not only that, you can still apply for this even if you do not have legal entry or if you have overstayed your visa by several years.

The "Miracle Visa"

So what is this miracle option that seems better than all the rest? It's the T visa!

For those who are not familiar, the T visa is designed to protect people that are already inside the United States on account of situations where people were forcibly taken advantage of by others. And these situations are a lot more common than you might think!

Who Qualifies

If you have worked at a job where:

- Your boss called you names

- Refused to pay you for all the time that you worked

- Overworked you

- Threatened you with deportation

Or threatened to prevent you from getting a job outside of their company, these are signs that you may actually qualify for a T visa.

Similarly, if you are in a relationship with somebody or have a family member who expects you to do certain housework and chores under threat of violence, or who forces you to give up all the money that you have earned at your job, this may also qualify you for a T visa.

And the good news is, is that your relative does not even need to be a U.S. citizen or even a green card holder in order for you to qualify for the T visa. As long as any of these activities happened while you are already inside the U.S., then you may qualify.

Another common situation is if you cross the border with the help of a coyote and were forced to do things such as cook for them, clean, work construction, or worse. Basically, if they forced you to do work or anything else and you were scared to refuse them because they threatened you with violence, or they did already use violence against you, and thus compel you to do such work, then you may certainly qualify for the T visa.

T Visa Good News

It does not matter how long ago this may have happened, as long as it happened inside the U.S. and you did not leave afterwards.

And it also does not matter if the person or company who took advantage of you is no longer alive, or in the country, or even functioning as a business. This means that even if the person you work for mistreated you more than ten years ago and they're no longer in existence, you still qualify.

Another good piece of news is that you do not need much evidence in order to prove your eligibility for the T visa.

The government knows that these sorts of cases do not tend to come with a lot of evidence to establish what has happened to you, so the standard of evidence is “any credible evidence”, and you may be able to win your case with a well detailed affidavit establishing exactly what has happened to you. Since the affidavit is so critical to your case, and since there tends to be very little evidence of what has happened otherwise, I highly recommend that you work with a well experienced attorney who knows how to work with these cases.

Conditions to Qualify

Now, there are some conditions to filing for a T visa, but most individuals do not have a problem with this.

First is that you need to have never left the U.S. since the incident of trafficking has occurred. This means that if you have ever departed the U.S. and come back, then you may not qualify. However, most people do not leave the U.S. once this has happened, or if they do leave and come back, frequently I have seen that other instances of trafficking may occur after returning to the U.S..

Number two, you do need to report your trafficking to a law enforcement agency that has the power to either investigate or prosecute this crime. So you do not have to report what has happened to you to police. You can file a report to the Department of Labor or the FBI, or even the Department of Justice before you proceed to file your visa application.

You also do not need to wait for them to even conduct any sort of investigation before you prove your eligibility to file, and you also do not need to wait for certification before you file.

And number three, there is an annual limit to how many visas are approved every year, and this number is 5,000. However, it is important to note that this cap has never been reached since the T visa has been established.

T Visa Timeline

Regarding the timeline, once you submit your case to the USCIS, it takes approximately one and a half to two years to get your case approved. And thanks to a new rule that went into effect this August, when you file for your T visa many people are now receiving a work permit soon after filing because of receiving a bona fide determination.

This means that even though you may wait one and a half to two years for your entire case to be approved, you would still get the ability to get a work authorization while your case is processing. Once your case is approved, you can file for a green card after three years, or sometimes even sooner if you get special permission from the Attorney General's office.

So you could go from submitting your case to getting your green card within five years of filing for your visa.

My name is Moumita Rahman, and during my 14 years of practicing immigration law, I have filed thousands of cases across the U.S. for deserving immigrants just like you. I know what USCIS is looking for when deciding your case, and I take every case seriously.

We can help you prepare the perfect affidavit to support everything that you have gone through, and to put your voice into your story to explain to USCIS why you deserve this relief. If you think that you may qualify for a T visa and would like our help with your case, call our office at (212) 248-7907. We are located in New York and we work with clients all over the United States.

Your journey is our fight. We are with you every step of the way. And if you want to learn additional ways on how to get a green card, watch my other video “The Top 9 Ways To Get A Green Card Without Leaving the U.S.!” In it, I cover different green card options, how each program works, and how to apply.

I'll include a link to that video above. Click next and I'll see you there.