Accelerated American Green Card procedure available for hi-tech personnel, other professionals for payment of USD 1,000
Itamar Eichner
Published: 11.06.06, 09:42
NEW YORK -- A Barbados woman desperate to obtain legal status in the U.S. heard that she could get a green card through a church in Brooklyn. She needed $1,200, more than triple her life savings.
American employers are offering hi-tech personnel and other technical professionals eligible for receiving work permits the chance at an accelerated Green Card procedure.
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service recently initiated an accelerated Green Card procedure on an employment basis.
Anyone eligible for receiving a work permit in the United States, who had applied for a Green Card thus far, was subject to a grueling application procedure leading up to the awaited approval of their application.
The first phase in this procedure used to take at least six months, while the second phase lasted a minimum of four years.
The new procedure allows for the first phase to be completed within 15 days, in exchange for a fee of USD 1,000 to accelerate the process.
To date, an estimated 4,000 Israeli applications, which were submitted in July 2002, are currently in their second phase.
Despite the supposed improvements, the work permit procedure in the US is still long, complicated, and subject to frequent changes. However, the American Embassy in Tel Aviv recently made significant changes to the process of issuing work permits.
