Work visa to Citizenship without Green Card?

[davidpipgras 1]

Greetings!

I am asking this for a friend and would really appreciate some input:

 

He came to the US from El Salvador on a work permit. During the original time frame, he was married to a US Citizen, but unfortunately she passed away from Cancer before they could apply for a green card, etc. He was issues a 'parole' to go visit home for a short time, and returned legally to the US, and has since renewed the work permit. He has been here legally since 2001. He has recently re-married to a US citizen (for five years now), and a couple of years ago, they hired and paid an immigration company/lawyer to file documents for them, but said person took their money ($3000+) and vanished without filing anything -- this came as a surprise when they went to renew the work permit. They have been married for 5+ years now, living together, and wanted to start the process again, so I offered to ask the question here, since Visa Journey members have helped me and my wife in our journey (we are at the Citizenship process now--yay!).

 

So the question is:  Can he apply for citizenship with only a work permit, having lived and worked legally in the US since 2001, despite having a Permanent Residence Card (green card)?  Or, does he HAVE to apply for a green card and follow the process, despite having lived/worked in the US for 21 years and being married to a US Citizen for 5+ years?

 

Knowledgeable advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Dave

[Boiler 45,467]

No

 

He needs to apply for a GC

[HRQX 4,145]

46 minutes ago, davidpipgras said:

He came to the US from El Salvador on a work permit.

Does he still have the passport he used to enter the US in 2001? What was the visa class?

46 minutes ago, davidpipgras said:

He was issues a 'parole' to go visit home for a short time

The parole part insinuates that at some point he was granted TPS. If so, note that the grant of TPS is a not a pathway in of itself per a recent SCOTUS decision. Assuming the AP entry was before Aug 2020 then it CAN be used for AOS. https://www.uscis.gov/news/news-releases/uscis-adopts-aao-decision-on-tps-and-authorized-travel

Edited June 27, 2021 by HRQX

[nastra30 2,284]

 

17 hours ago, davidpipgras said:

 

So the question is:  Can he apply for citizenship with only a work permit, having lived and worked legally in the US since 2001, despite having a Permanent Residence Card (green card)?  Or, does he HAVE to apply for a green card and follow the process, despite having lived/worked in the US for 21 years and being married to a US Citizen for 5+ years?

I'm assuming you meant 'despite NOT having a green card. 

Nonetheless, No he can't apply for citizenship with a work permit. He needs to have a green card first, regardless of how many years he's lived in the US.

[arken 4,197]

On 6/26/2021 at 8:19 PM, davidpipgras said:

He has recently re-married to a US citizen (for five years now),

Time to file i130 and AOS through marriage. Get GC first and after 3 years apply for the citizenship.