Working Permit or Permanent Residence in the USA?

My husband is studying to be a nurse. We have a tourist visa for the USA and we plan to go there after he graduates and just process his papers there. We want to go as a family (with our 2 kids) Will we have a hard time if we just process our papers there? which will be faster? work permit for him or permanent resident visa for all of us?

Adjustment of status (from tourist to permanent resident) is possible only if there is no retrogression and if your husband finds an employer willing to sponsor him.

Take a look at the current visa bulletin
http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bullet...

Nurses belong to the EB3 category (employment-based category 3). As you can see, the priority date listed for EB3 is Oct 15 2002 (actually it varies from Apr 22 2001 to Oct 15 2002, depending on what country you're from). This means that the applications being processed at this time are those that have priority dates of Oct 15 2002 and earlier. If retrogression gets lifted, you will see that the priority date for EB3 will change to "C", meaning "current". When that happens, an applicant whose petition gets approved can get his papers processed and he can be issued an immigrant visa. The whole process takes about 8 to 16 months.

Retrogression was lifted last August, but no one can be sure when it will be lifted again. If your husband comes here on a tourist visa while retrogression is in effect, he can not apply for adjustment of status. He will need to exit the US again; otherwise, he will be out of status. The same goes for you and your kids if you tag along as tourists.

Take a look at this if you want to know more about immigrant petitions based on employment:
http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-140ins...

Once a person is issued an immigrant visa, there is no need for a work permit. Work permits are only for nonimmigrants, like those who are on a working visa (H1). Processing for this type of visa is faster compared to an immigrant visa. Note that there is an annual cap (maximum number of visas issued per fiscal year) for this type of visa so it gets really competitive. Another point to consider is spouses/dependents of those with working visas are not allowed to work.

Here's more about working visa if you are interested:
http://www.uscis.gov/propub/ProPubVAP.js...

http://www.immihelp.com/visas/h1b/

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-129ins...


So to answer your questions:
-Yes, you will have a hard time if you have your papers processed here since retrogression is in effect right now. As I said, adjustment of status is not possible while there is retrogression.
-Work permits are faster in terms of processing time, but you have to consider the downside (only your husband can work, get a driver license, etc). Immigrant visas are better, but processing may take a while.

I hope you find this helpful.

i do beleive a working permit will be faster and you can even apply for it from your home land.
a permanent residency permit will take at least more than a year and besides you still have to get a work permit or temp resident permit before you can ask to be a permanent resident.
hope it helps and
hope you make it!

He needs to find a US company that is willing to sponsor him for a work visa, he can not apply on his own.

Joe is correct in his answer.