What it takes to become an US immigrant ?

Here are some of the (long waiting) routes :

Family Sponsorship:

Relative is a US citizen
a) Spouse or minor child — Greencard – 3 to 5 years, Citizenship – 6 to 7 years
b) For all other family sponsorships — Green card – 7 to 15 years (Married adult children) and 11 to 22 years (Siblings of US citizens), Citizenship — 12 to 28 years

Relative is a Lawful Permanent Resident:
a) Spouse or minor child — Green card – 6 years, Citizenship – 11 to 13 years
b) For all other family sponsorships — Green card (only if they are single) – 9 to 14 years, Citizenship – 14 to 20 years

Skilled Immigrants:

a) Extremely genius or star athletes or investor with $1 million — Green card – 5 to 6 years, Citizenship – 6 to 7 years
b) Skilled worker with college degree in specialty occupation (Computer engineers or nurses) — Green card – 6 to 10 years, Citizenship – 11 to 16 years

If you are a computer engineer from India then it may take 11 to sweet 16 years to become a US citizen.

Here is the flowchart explanation from Reason of getting into long line with a fresh face only to get waited in the long lines of years and coming out with grown and aging beards.

07cf533ddb1d06350cf1ddb5942ef5ad.jpg (JPEG Image, 2448×1584 pixels) via kwout

Kudos to the Reason and Mike Flynn, Shikha Dalmia & Terry Colon for putting together this wonderful immigration chart that clears up all doubts that any one might have on the US immigrations process with caricatures of a Indian Singh or a Mexican.