Legal Question in Immigration Law in New York

Re: Argentina immigrant

You do not need to be employed to be a permanent resident but must fall under the category under the law which entitles you to permanent residency. I would need to evaluate your situation to determine if you fall into any of those categories.

Feel free to contact me if you would like further assistance.

Kind regards,

Peter Moulinos

Re: Argentina immigrant

Generally there are three choices in obtaining a U.S. immigrant visa: family-based, employment-based or investment-based. There are different requirements applicable to each category of visas but most employment-based visas require a job offer from a U.S. company. There are a couple of visa categories where you may be able to apply for permanent residence without a job offer, such as EB-1 and EB-2 NIW categories, if you qualify as an alien of extraordinary ability, outstanding researcher and professor, or multinational executive and manager or as an alien of exceptional ability and advanced degree professional with a waiver. Qualification in these visa categories is highly valuable because they do not require labor certification. In order to be able to adjust status (switch to an immigrant visa category from a non-immigrant status without leaving the U.S.), the alien has to be in lawful status within the period of validity of I-94 among other things. However, this is more a procedural matter and you still have to qualify for self-petitioning or have a U.S. employer petition on your behalf with an approvable petition. Consult a qualified immigration attorney to evaluate your options.

The above reply is in the nature of general information, is not legal advice and should not be relied on as such.