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A family member, whether a spouse or not, can be key to gaining citizenship.Comstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
In the case of a woman married to an American citizen, apply for her card on the basis of her having citizens for family members. Either you or another family member can fill out form I-130, a Petition for an Alien Relative or she can fill out a form I-485, a Petition for Permanent Residence on that basis. Of course, to use form I-130 in the face of spousal abuse, a close relative other than her husband will have to fill out the form. - 2
A battered woman may qualify as a refugee.Dan Kitwood/Getty Images News/Getty Images
Apply for refugee status for the woman. To gain this status, the woman will have to live outside the U.S. and have a demonstrable fear of persecution due to her race, her ethnicity, her religious or political opinions or her membership in a specific part of her society. You or she will have to apply for this status through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, and they will prioritize people designated by a United States Embassy, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or certain pre-determined non-governmental organizations. Many government agencies are involved in a decision to grant this status, and in a given year the U.S. will not admit any refugees prior to the president's signing of a determination on policy for refugees. The process for granting refugee status may therefore be time-consuming, but it does provide a means to grant the woman in question a green card. Furthermore, given this status, she can apply for permanent residence after one year. Of course, given that a person in her own country is the source of her abuse, she may in fact be able to cite these events as one of the reasons to grant her this status, though she will probably need to demonstrate a more pervasive threat than that of one individual. - 3
The U.S. government does give special permission for those with particular skills to live in the country.Comstock Images/Comstock/Getty Images
Have her apply for a green card on the basis of her willingness to do a job underserved by American workers or by having a skill rare in the U.S. An Afghan or Iraqi translator, a broadcaster, an Iraqi with a history of aiding the U.S. government, a medical doctor, a religious worker and others may be able to apply through this means even without a job offer, but more typically a specific company would have to hire her and grant her one of its own pre-requested green cards.
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