Citizenship & EAD issues !! pls advice

[christera22 8]

Hi all,

I am new to this citizenship issues, i dnt know this is the right forum to post it in or not....... I am applying for AOS through marriag with my wife who is the USC. Just wanted to know of few things that I am not sure of and found vague answers after lot of googling.

I am from India & we have future plans to go back to India in future...thats why I dnt want to give up Indian Citizenship in the future, as India doesnt allow dual citizenship. Now as far as i know after the AOS interview people gets a two year unconditional green card and then after two years they together have to prove their ongoing marriage to lifet conditions and change it into a 10 yr unconditional green card. After 3 years people can apply for citizenship or just keep on reissuing their green cards after every 10 years. Hope I am right in what i know :

My queries are :

a) In a legal permanent resident status, if i go to India with my Indian passport, will there be any restrictions that I can be out of USA for so many months and not more than that ?

B) I learnt there are a great number of jobs that require US citizenship while others accept permanent residents or EAD holders. Which kind of govt jobs accept PRs & EAD holders ?

b1) What kind of jobs can I expect with my EAD in hand, apart from public & private sectors..... i mean in govt sectors.

c) I was looking through the website of Federal Jobs and on this page for Employment of Non-Citizens

Federal Job website I saw they are stating

" IMMIGRATION LAW REQUIREMENTS ON EMPLOYING CITIZENS AND ALIENS

For any work to be performed in the United States, immigration law requires private and public employers to hire only individuals who are eligible to be employed. Those individuals are:

1)A citizen (either by birth or naturalization) or national of the United States,

2)An alien assigned by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), Department of Homeland Security, to a class of immigrants authorized to be employed (aliens who are lawfully admitted for permanent residence by INS are the largest class of aliens in this category), or

3) An individual alien who is expressly authorized by CIS to be employed. "

Does that mean some Federal jobs do employ PRs and EAD holders?

I wd be glad to get some good advices........... Thanks a lot ....

Edited December 4, 2008 by christera22

[christera22 8]

also i was seeing this sample GC site ... what is the difference between permanent resident & resident alien ?? sorry for my silly questions

[Kath 0]

resident alien  (alien = person)

1. an alien who has legally established residence in the U.S.

2. an alien who has legally entered the U.S. as an immigrant with the intention of becoming a citizen.

permanent resident

A non-U.S. citizen who has been given permission to make his or her permanent home in the United States. If you acquire permanent residence, you will be issued a green card to prove it. The terms permanent resident and "green card holder" mean exactly the same thing. You cannot be a permanent resident without a green card and you cannot have a green card without being a permanent resident. As a permanent resident, you may travel as much as you like, but your place of residence must be the United States and you must keep that residence on a permanent basis. If you leave the United States and stay away for more than a year, you risk losing your green card.

Citizenship Requirements for Employment for Non Citzens

take a look at the above link might help understand it also...

good luck.

kath

[ELW 5]

You bring up some good points and questions. Hopefully others with more experience can give you more info and advice.

It was always my understanding (though I have not done any extensive research) that for all practical purposes, only citizens could get Federal jobs. I don't know what particular "Federal agencies" would accept applications from non-citizens; you might have to start looking at all the available jobs and see if any of them note exceptions to the "citizens-only" rule. However, local (city & county) and state governments employ green card holders. It is only federal govt that is particular about citizens (and that is a highly competitive chunk of jobs anyway). My husband is also from India and has a conditional green card now. He applied for jobs both in local court and county (didn't get them - he needs to get more fluent in English to get better scores on the tests!). A great way to see different jobs is to go to your local city and county website and click on Employment, that will give you all the details. They have similar great benefits as federal jobs (though of course with lower salaries than the private sector). Most jobs in the private sector accept applications from green card holders.

My husband and I also to plan to move back to India in the future. He has decided that American citizenship is the best route. After getting citizenship, he can apply for an OCI card and for all practical purposes, it is just like having duel citizenship. The great thing about the OCI card is that he can stay in India for as long as he wants, even decades, and return to visit or settle in USA whenever he wants. However if he just keeps a green card, he needs to fulfill certain requirements to retain his green card (like applying for a re-entry permit, not be out of the country for too long, and keep paying the fees and applying for green card every 10 years). I haven't researched it fully but let's just say it is LOTS more hassle to keep renewing a green card.

Why not you research OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) and consider taking American Citizenship. Others on this forum have done that.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

For the OP.

It is true that India does not allow TRUE dual-citizenship (basically you naturalise outside of India, you can't carry Indian passport--in fact, the one you then hold will need to be sent to the Embassy or High-Commission of India).

However, India does have (with US, UK and Canada at least) a provision for "Overseas Citizenship of India" (OCI); for a US citizen, the cost of application is $275.00. Applicant (if accepted) will receive a small booklet and a pasted-in (to passport) certificate.

US Embassy Page on OCI

OCI Application site.

(applied for and received OCI in 2007)

Edited December 5, 2008 by CherryXS

[ELW 5]

You may be interested in this article:

Pentagon to recruit aliens on visas

[christera22 8]

thanks for the link ELW....but i was reading through the article .... it says people who they wd hire wd be recruited in the forces for Iraq or Afganistan..... does this also mean that other federal govt jobs that requires citizenship will be open for green card holders who are here for at least 2 yrs ?? any idea ???

though now as i understood, citizenship period wd also be changed by what they said " They essentially go to the head of the line among citizenship applicants, having their cases processed in about three years as opposed to the five years it takes others"

[christera22 8]

though now as i understood, citizenship period wd also be changed by what they said " President George W. Bush signed an executive order in 2002 making foreigners who join the military eligible to apply immediately for citizenship. They essentially go to the head of the line among citizenship applicants, having their cases processed in about three years as opposed to the five years it takes others" But seems this law wd be applicable for people who wd like to join the forces....

That means people here in Green card for 2 yrs now wont be taken in Federal jobs ??

But the link given by Kath http://www.usajobs.gov/EI9.asp ... shows that a Permanent resident wd only be taken if they cant find a suitable citizen ...