Hey, just my 2 pence worth. I have my Green Card....have had one for about 10-15 yrs. I'm 25 FAA Commercial, CFI, CFII all that funky stuff, etc.....believe me, they won't touch you with a barge pole! Having a Green Card, is just as good as not having one in this industry in the US. Believe me. Having a Green Card, will let you work anywhere else and do anything else almost in the US, but a career flying.....trust me, you'll be hard pressed! Especially now post Sept 11th and all that, I think these guys need to get over it!!
The reason I'm telling you this is that, if you think that once you get one you'll be right up there - you'll be nowhere near. I don't mean to Pi$$ on your bonfire, but thought I'd just let you know.
You'll get on as a CFI/CFII etc, maybe even a Part 135 operation (flying something less that 12,500lbs or 5,700kg) but anything else?? HAHA! Forget it. I'm riding the motions as we speak and back to good ol' Blighty soon I guess!