I. What are the two types of ways that Non US Citizen/residents can come legally to the US?
Through the approval of a Immigrant Petition or a Non- Immigrant petition by the US Department of Citizenship and Immigration Service
II. What are the most frequently used types of Non-immigrant Visas?
B-1. Business visitors. B-2. Visitors for tourism or medical treatment. F-1. Academic or language students. F-2. Immediate family members of F-1 visa holders. F-3. Citizens or residents of Mexico or Canada commuting to the U.S. to attend an academic institution. H-1B. Persons working in specialty occupations requiring at least a bachelor's degree or its equivalent in on-the-job experience, and distinguished fashion models. H-2A. Temporary agricultural workers coming to the U.S. to fill positions for which a temporary shortage of American workers has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. H-2B. Temporary workers of various kinds coming to the U.S. to perform temporary jobs for which there is a shortage of available, qualified American workers. H-3. Temporary trainees coming for on-the-job training unavailable in their home countries. H-4. Immediate family members of H-1, H-2, or H-3 visa holders. J-1. Exchange visitors coming to the U.S. to study, work, or train as part of an exchange program officially recognized by the U.S. Information Agency. J-2. Immediate family members of J-1 visa holders. K-1. Fiancés or fiancées of U.S. citizens coming to the U.S. for the purpose of getting married. K-2. Minor, unmarried children of K-1 visa holders. K-3. Spouses of U.S. citizen petitioners awaiting USCIS approval of their immigrant visa petition and the availability of an immigrant visa. K-4. Children of K-3 visa holders. L-1. Intracompany transferees who work as managers, executives, or persons with specialized knowledge. L-2. Immediate family members of L-1 visa holders. R-1. Ministers and other workers of recognized religions. R-2. Immediate family members of R-1 visa holders. V. Spouses and children of U.S. lawful permanent resident petitioners who have already waited three years for the approval of their visa petition or for an immigrant visa to become available.
III. What is an 1-94?
An I-94 is a travel tracking document issued at the port of entry which records date of entry in the US, type of visa granted, the extent of time the Non-Immigrant is permitted to stay in the United States. This document will be taken back from the Non Immigrant on departure from the United States.
IV. How do I apply for a Nonimmigrant visa?
There are specific requirements for each of the Non Immigrant visas and specific forms have to be filled and sent along with the filing fees in order to petition for the visa.
V. How do I apply for an Immigrant visa?
There are different types of categories to file an Immigrant petition. Some of them are described below.
Immediate Relatives
There is no quota limit on the number of green cards that can be issued to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. Immediate relatives are defined as:
Spouses of U.S. citizens, including recent widows and widowers
Unmarried people under the age of 21 who have at least one U.S. citizen parent.
Parents of U.S. citizens, if the U.S. citizen child is over the age of 21.
Stepchildren and stepparents of U.S. citizens, if the marriage creating the stepparent/stepchild relationship took place before the child's 18th birthday, and
Parents and children of U.S. citizens related through adoption, if the adoption took place before the child reached the age of 16.
Preferences
Those who receive green cards under categories with quotas fall into one of several classifications called "preferences." A total of 480,000 green cards are available annually to people in the preference categories. Anyone in a preference category will have to wait for their green card, sometimes for years. Although there are a number of preference categories, they actually cover only two general types of people: certain family members of U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and people with job skills wanted by U.S. employers.
Group I: Family Preference Green Cards
Family First Preference. Unmarried adults, age 21 or over, who have at least one U.S. citizen parent.
Family Second Preference. Section 2A: Spouses and unmarried children under age 21 of a green card holder. Section 2B: Unmarried children over age 21 of a green card holder.
Family Third Preference. Married people, any age, who have at least one U.S. citizen parent.
Family Fourth Preference. Sisters and brothers of U.S. citizens, where the citizen is age 21 or older.
Group II: Employment Preference Green Cards
A total of 140,000 green cards are offered in the employment categories each year.
Employment First Preference. Priority workers, including the following three groups:
Persons of extraordinary ability in the arts, the sciences, education, business, or athletics, outstanding professors and researchers, and managers and executives of multinational companies.
Employment Second Preference. Professionals with advanced degrees or exceptional ability.
Employment Third Preference. Professionals and skilled or unskilled workers.
Employment Fourth Preference. Religious workers and various miscellaneous categories of workers and other "special immigrants."
Employment Fifth Preference. Individual investors willing to invest $1 million in a U.S. business -- or $500,000 if the business is in an economically depressed area. The investor must also employ at least ten workers
1. Ethnic Diversity: Green Card Lotteries
A certain number of green cards are made available to people from countries that in recent years have sent the fewest immigrants to the United States. The total number of green cards offered in this category is currently 50,000. The purpose of this program is to ensure a varied ethnic mix among those who immigrate to America. The method used for distributing these green cards is a random selection by computer, so the program is popularly known as the green card lottery.
2. Special Immigrants
Occasionally, laws are passed making green cards available to people in special situations. The current special immigrant categories are:
Religious workers for legitimate religious organizations
Foreign medical graduates who have been in the United States since 1978
Former employees of the Panama Canal Zone
Foreign workers who were formerly longtime employees of the U.S. government
Retired officers or employees of certain international organizations who have lived in the United States for a certain time, plus their spouses and unmarried children
Foreign workers who have been employees of the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong for at least three years
Foreign children who have been declared dependent in juvenile courts in the United States, and
International broadcasting employees
5. Refuge and Political Asylum
The U.S. government offers refuge to people who fear, or have experienced, persecution in their home country. The persecution must be based on the person's race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. A person still outside the United States would apply to be a refugee; a person already in the United States would apply for political asylum. The qualifications for refugee status and political asylum are similar. However, if you are fleeing only poverty or random violence, you do not qualify in either category.
The number of refugees allowed into the United States each year is established by the U.S. president. There is no limit on the number who can receive political asylum, except that only 1,000 immigrants will be accepted whose asylum claim was based on opposition to coercive family planning practices.
6. Temporary Protected Status
The U.S. government may decide to give citizens of certain countries temporary safe haven in the United States when conditions in their homeland become dangerous. This is called Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS is similar to political asylum, except that it is always temporary and will never by itself qualify you for a green card. To find out who is eligible for TPS, visit the website of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, formerly called the INS) at www.uscis.gov. Click on Immigration Services and Benefits, then on Temporary Protected Status.
7. Amnesty
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) gave amnesty to aliens who had been living in the United States illegally since January 1, 1982, by making green cards available to them. The deadline for filing applications was May 4, 1988.
However, the "LIFE" Act created new opportunities for certain applicants whose cases have not yet been decided, and who were members of the "CSS," "LULAC," or "Zambrano" class action lawsuits.
Congress added an amnesty for Nicaraguan and Cuban nationals in a 1997 bill called the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA). Some provisions also benefit Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Eastern Europeans. The deadline for filing applications has passed.
8. Special Agricultural Workers
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 also contained an amnesty green card opportunity for agricultural laborers who worked in the fields for at least 90 days between May 1, 1985 and May 1, 1986. The filing deadline for these temporary residency applications was November 30, 1988. However, late applications may be accepted under rare circumstances.
9. Long-Term Residents and Other Special Cases
The law allows certain people who have lived illegally in the United States for more than ten years to obtain permanent legal residence. If you have been in the country illegally for more than ten years, you must show that your spouse or children -- who must be U.S. citizens -- would face "extraordinary and exceptionally unusual hardship" if you were forced to leave the country.
If you believe that you meet this requirement, you should consult a lawyer before going to USCIS to make an application. If you don't fall clearly into this category, you may cause your own deportation by making yourself known to the authorities. In fact, this remedy is realistically available only to persons already in immigration court proceedings. USCIS has no obligation to act on any other application, and it may sit in its files for years -- or until the law changes against you.
An alternate remedy called "registry" allows people who have lived in the United States continuously since January 1, 1972, to apply for a green card. To qualify, you'll need to show that you have good moral character and are not inadmissible. Your stay in the United States need not have been illegal -- time spent on a visa counts as well.
Finally, individual members of the U.S. Congress have, on occasion, intervened for humanitarian reasons in extraordinary cases, helping an individual to get permanent residence even if the law would not allow it.
VI. How do I apply for a Green Card based on Employment?
Depending on your visa status there are specific steps involved with the filing of a petition for Alien Labor Certification from the US Department of Labor, Immigrant Petition, Adjustment of Status or Counsel of Processing.
VII. When am I eligible to be a citizen of the United States?
On completion of 5 years as a Permanent Resident you are eligible to apply to become a citizen of the United States.
