Alright, so you wanna know about gettin’ a green card, huh? You’re one of them F1 student fellas, eh? Well, listen up, ’cause I’m gonna tell ya what I know, even though I ain’t no fancy lawyer or nothin’. Just plain talk, ya hear?
First off, it ain’t easy. Nothin’ worth gettin’ ever is. You gotta have someone, what they call, “petition” for ya. Sounds fancy, but it just means someone gotta say, “Hey, this kid’s alright, let ’em stay.” Usually, it’s family, like your husband or wife, if you got one of them. Or maybe your ma and pa, if they’re already here and got the papers themselves. They gotta fill out some form, somethin’ called an I-130, I think. Don’t ask me what it stands for, I ain’t got a clue.
But what if you ain’t got no family here? Well, then it gets trickier. See, there’s this other way, through your job. If you’re real good at what you do, like, real, real good, some boss might want to keep ya around. They gotta fill out a different form, an I-140, they call it. It’s like sayin’, “This worker’s so good, we can’t let ’em go back home.” But lemme tell ya, that ain’t easy neither. You gotta be special, you know? Like one of them brain surgeons or somethin’. They call it “extraordinary ability,” I heard. Sounds like a circus act to me, but that’s what they say.
Now, I heard some folks talkin’ ’bout this “OPT” thing. Apparently, after you finish school, you get to work for a bit, a year or two maybe. And durin’ that time, maybe, just maybe, you can convince your boss you’re worth keepin’. Then they might file that I-140 for ya. It’s a long shot, but some folks do it, I guess.
- Family gotta petition ya (I-130 form).
- Boss gotta petition ya (I-140 form) ’cause you’re super smart or somethin’.
- Maybe after your OPT, your boss likes ya enough to keep ya.
And then there’s this money thing. I heard tell of folks gettin’ a green card by investin’ a whole lotta money in some business. Like, a million dollars or somethin’. Crazy, right? Who got that kinda money layin’ around? They call it the EB-5 visa, somethin’ like that. If you’re one of them rich folks, well, good for you, I guess. But for most of us, it ain’t an option.
Now, whatever you do, don’t go tryin’ to pull a fast one. I heard stories about folks gettin’ married just to get papers, or lyin’ on them forms. Don’t do it! They got this 90-day rule, see? If you do somethin’ fishy right after you get here, they gonna be lookin’ at ya real close. And if they catch ya, well, you’re in big trouble. They’ll send ya right back where ya came from, and you won’t be gettin’ no green card, that’s for sure.
So, there ya have it. That’s all I know about gettin’ a green card as an F1 student. It ain’t easy, and it ain’t quick. But if you’re patient, and you do things the right way, maybe, just maybe, you can make it happen. Just remember to be honest, work hard, and don’t give up. And maybe say a little prayer or two. It can’t hurt, right?
One more thing, they say you gotta be a full-time student, whatever that means. Guess you gotta go to them classes and do your homework, just like my grandkids do. And you gotta keep your nose clean, you know? Stay outta trouble. No drinkin’ too much, no fightin’, none of that nonsense. They want good folks here, not troublemakers.
Anyway, that’s all I got. Hope it helps ya somehow. Good luck with that green card thing. Lord knows, you’ll need it.
Tags: [Green Card, F1 Student, Immigration, USA, Visa, OPT, I-130, I-140, EB-5, 90-day rule]
