Green Card Becomes Green

For years the document issued to lawful permanent residents in the United States has been called a green card, but that never referred to its color. In fact, over the years the U.S. green card has been pink, blue, white and beige but never green.

This will all change with the introduction of a new design for the green card that was recently announced by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In addition to actually being green, the cards will feature laser engraved fingerprints, holographic images and radio frequency identification chips, which will allow Customs and Border Protection officials to read the cards at a distance, according to the New York Times.

The cards were designed by LaserCard to be as technologically advanced as possible.

"We worked closely with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to develop the most physically secure and counterfeit-resistant identification credentials available today," said Bob DeVincenzi, president and chief executive officer of LaserCard.

Foreign nationals who participate in the EB-5 visa program will hope to earn such a card. They can accomplish this by investing $1 million in a U.S. business and if that investment produces or preserves 10 new jobs, the investor become eligible for their (ultra-advanced) EB-5 green card.