Family-based Immigration
v U.S. citizen bringing her spouse, children, parents, and siblings to live in the U.S. permanently.
v Green card holder bringing her spouse or children to live in the U.S. permanently.
v U.S. citizen bringing his fiancée to the U.S. and then marrying her within certain period of her entry to the U.S.
Employment-based Immigration
v U.S. employer bringing a foreign national to work and live in the U.S. permanently.
v Foreign national who has a permanent job opportunity in the U.S. intending to live in the U.S. permanently.
v Foreign nationals of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics, and foreign nationals that are outstanding professors or researchers intending to immigrate to U.S.
Nonimmigrant Visas
Visitors - Business and Pleasure
Generally, a citizen of a foreign country who wishes to enter the United States must first obtain a visa, either a nonimmigrant visa for temporary stay, or an immigrant visa for permanent residence. The "visitor" visa is a nonimmigrant visa for persons desiring to enter the United States temporarily for business (B-1) or for pleasure or medical treatment (B-2). Persons planning to travel to the U.S. for a different purpose such as students, temporary workers, crewmen, journalists, etc., must apply for a different visa in the appropriate category.
Foreign Students
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides two nonimmigrant visa categories for persons wishing to study in the United States. The "F" visa is for academic studies, and the "M" visa is for nonacademic or vocational studies.
Changes in U.S. immigration law, effective November 30, 1996, require that no alien may be issued an F-1 visa to attend a U.S. public elementary or middle school (K-8). Any alien who wishes to attend public high school (grades 9-12) in the United States in student visa (F-1) status must submit evidence that the local school district has been reimbursed in advance for the unsubsidized per capita cost of the education.
Temporary Workers
Classifications
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides several categories of nonimmigrant visas for a person who wishes to work temporarily in the United States. There are annual numerical limits on some classifications which are shown in parentheses.
H-1B classification applies to persons in a specialty occupation which requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge requiring completion of a specific course of higher education. This classification requires a labor attestation (65,000). This classification also applies to Government-to-Government research and development, or coproduction projects administered by the Department of Defense (100).
H-2A classification applies to temporary or seasonal agricultural workers.
H-2B classification applies to temporary or seasonal nonagricultural workers. This classification requires a temporary labor certification (66,000).
H-3 classification applies to trainees other than medical or academic. This classification also applies to practical training in the education of handicapped children (50).
L classification applies to intracompany transferees who, within the three preceding years, have been employed abroad continuously for one year, and who will be employed by a branch, parent, affiliate, or subsidiary of that same employer in the U.S. in a managerial, executive, or specialized knowledge capacity.
O-1 classification applies to persons who have extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or extraordinary achievements in the motion picture and television field.
O-2 classification applies to persons accompanying an O-1 alien to assist in an artistic or athletic performance for a specific event or performance.
P-1 classification applies to individual or team athletes, or members of an entertainment group that are internationally recognized (25,000).
P-2 classification applies to artists or entertainers who will perform under a reciprocal exchange program.
P-3 classification applies to artists or entertainers who perform under a program that is culturally unique (same as P-1).
Q-1 classification applies to participants in an international cultural exchange program for the purpose of providing practical training, employment, and the sharing of the history, culture, and traditions of the alien's home country.
R classification applies to aliens proceeding to the United States to work in a religious capacity.
Exchange Visitors
The J exchange visitor program is designed to promote the interchange of persons, knowledge, and skills in the fields of education, arts, and sciences.
The Q international cultural exchange program is for the purpose of providing practical training, employment, and the sharing of the history, culture, and traditions of the participant's home country in the United States.
TN Visas: Professionals Under NAFTA
The TN visa is available only to citizens of Mexico and Canada pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Under NAFTA, a citizen of a NAFTA country may work in a professional occupation in another NAFTA country provided that certain requirements are met.
Treaty Traders and Treaty Investors
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides nonimmigrant visa status for a national of a country with which the United States maintains a treaty of commerce and navigation who is coming to the United States to carry on substantial trade, including trade in services or technology, principally between the United States and the treaty country, or to develop and direct the operations of an enterprise in which the national has invested, or is in the process of investing a substantial amount of capital.
Asylum and Deportation
Asylum may be granted to people who are already in the United States and are unable or unwilling to return their home country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Asylum relief can also be claimed during deportation/removal proceedings.
Foreign nationals who are outside of the U.S. fleeing from persecution can apply for refugee status. Asylum status and refugee status are closely related. They differ only in the place where a person asks for the status. Asylum status is asked for in the United States; refugee status is asked for outside of the United States.
Naturalization and Citizenship
A person may become a U.S. citizen by birth or through naturalization. Foreign nationals who are permanent U.S. residents may become U.S. citizens after they have met certain requirements set out in the Immigration and Nationality Act and regulations.
