What is the difference in a work visa and a green card?

  Improve

A 2 sentence summary is - A visa is usually company specific. A Green Card allows you to work for almost any company.

A H1B visa actually states the name of the sponsoring company on it and US immigration will always ask if you work for that company.

Through the US Custom and Immigration Service, they are two different types of clearence for an alien to temporarily visit the US. To visit the US as an alien, you must have a valid reason to be here and that reason will dictate whether you can apply for and receive a Visa or Green Card. To visit the US as an alien you must have a sponsor, a US citizen, US school or US company that will be your host during your visit.

Most Visas are good for up to one year and cover many different areas of visitation. Some examples are Student Visas and Temporary Non-Skilled worker Visas and there are limitations on the number issued each year. You must reapply before the Visa expires to renew.

Green cards are more specific and about 95% of these are for spouses of US citizens. Other examples are Business Green Cards and Green Card Lottery. These last for 10 years and can lead to possible citizenship. Go online to-uscis.gov-and pull up information and forms that can be downloaded/copied. Good luck.

P.S. If you continue to have questions, I can assist in filling out forms and translating some of the information. Contact me @ this site for further assistance.

First answer by Zippaman. Last edit by GRALISTAIR. Contributor trust: 245 [recommend contributorrecommended]. Question popularity: 1 [recommend question].