Well, kiddies it was simple enough for me...
I just did what the INS told me to and I had no trouble getting my green card mailed to me within 60 days of arriving in the US..
Then I went to work for Ma Bell..
Arrived 13 August started work 10 Oct...
No lawyers required...
Whats the problem with your friends ???
It’s no longer the 1950s, sweetie.
You may go to USCIS and try downloading the applications for a work permit, then the green card, and finally the citizenship application and see how much work and how many papers the whole process involves. One screw-up anywhere in any part of the confusing tangles of selection categories and the application can be doomed, and permanently used against the applicant in future applications.
For example, the work permit involved a prevailing wage estimation process that the legal alien’s application has to include, which has to be filed in advance to the Dept. of Labor and then sent to USCIS. The intent is to ensure that the applicant isn’t being hired at the expense of causing local unemployment. That’s the design of the system anyway. The company hiring the applicant also has to prove it had looked earnestly for a local candidate for several months, including proof such as newspaper ads for the position.
I am aware of this because I work as a consultant at a company in the Bay Area that develops robotic surgical machinery, and they have a few Indian engineers hired who had to go through the process. They were in the US on student visas, them got their EAD approved which allows them to work for 12 months legally, and an additional 17 months after filing what is known as a STEM extension. After that, it was the H1-B visa which allows them to work 3 more years, and then after a second filing, another 3 years. Then the green card under EB2, which is processed faster than if it were EB3 (which has a current wait list / backlog going close to a decade and more), and finally the citizenship application. Up to H1-B, the visas are specifically non-immigrant visas. Doing all of the above without a qualified immigration lawyer is risky and foolish.
“I just did what the INS told me to and I had no trouble getting my green card mailed to me within 60 days of arriving in the US..”
You had yours mailed? I had mine given to me on the spot in canada. What’s YOUR problem?