What is involved in the Green Card process and how long will it take?
The Green Card process for a “Non-Schedule A” (NSA) alien is a long and tedious process. The first phase being Labor Certification and then once labor certification is approved, the I-140 would be filed. Phase two consists of Adjustment of Status OR Consulate Processing. This process can take 15-24 months or longer depending on the priority date of the primary applicant. Now that PERM has gone into effect, applicants move through the Labor Certification Process much quicker. However, due to the priority date backlog at CIS, the applicant will do all of their waiting in the Adjustment of Status. Currently, priority dates are backlogged and Immigrant Visa numbers are not available. CIS will not allow applicants to file the last stage of the green card (AOS or CP), until the priority date becomes current. There is no way to predict how long the wait might be for this. The Visa Bulletin which lists the current priority dates can be found at: http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulle
