LPR (Lawful Permanent Resident)
📊 Explore LPR data →A Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) is a foreign national who has been granted authorization to live and work in the United States on a permanent basis. Commonly known as "green card holders," LPRs hold one of the most secure immigration statuses available, though it falls short of U.S. citizenship.
LPR status can be obtained through several pathways: family-based immigration (sponsorship by a U.S. citizen or LPR family member), employment-based immigration (employer sponsorship, often requiring labor certification), the diversity visa lottery, refugee or asylee adjustment, and certain special immigrant categories (including SIJS for abused children and religious workers).
As LPRs, individuals can live and work anywhere in the United States without restriction, travel internationally (with some limitations), sponsor certain family members for immigration, and after meeting residency requirements, apply for U.S. citizenship through naturalization.
However, LPR status is not irrevocable. Green card holders can be placed in removal proceedings if they commit certain criminal offenses (particularly "aggravated felonies" as defined by immigration law), commit fraud, abandon their permanent residence, or are found to have been ineligible for their green card in the first place. LPRs in removal proceedings may be eligible for cancellation of removal if they meet the requirements (5 years of LPR status and 7 years of continuous residence).
The number of green cards issued annually is capped at approximately 1 million, with the largest categories being family-based (about 65%) and employment-based (about 15%). Wait times for green cards can be extraordinary — some family-based categories have backlogs exceeding 20 years, and employment-based applicants from high-demand countries like India face similar delays.
Related Terms
Cancellation of Removal
A form of relief allowing certain long-term residents to avoid deportation. Requires 10 years of continuous physical presence, good moral character, and proof that removal would cause "exceptional and extremely unusual hardship" to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent, or child.
Removal Proceedings
The formal process in immigration court where a judge determines whether a foreign national should be ordered removed (deported) from the United States or allowed to remain under some form of relief.
PD (Priority Date)
The date that establishes an immigrant's place in line for a visa. For family-based cases, it's when the petition is filed. For employment-based cases, it varies. Wait times from priority date to visa availability can be decades.