Immigrant visas

In general, any applicant for an immigrant visa must be the beneficiary of an approved petition. A few categories of applicants such as priority workers, investors, certain special immigrants, and diversity immigrants can petition on their own behalf. All other intending immigrants must have a relative or potential employer petition on their behalf.

Applicants for family-sponsored immigrant visas who believe they are entitled to immigrant status based on a relationship to a US citizen or lawful resident alien (see above), should request that relative to file a petition (Form I -130) with the nearest office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in the United States. In some cases, if the American citizen sponsor is residing abroad, he or she may file the petition with an Immigration Service officer or a US consular officer at an American Embassy or Consulate.

Applicants for employment-based immigrant visas who believe they are entitled to immigrant status based on proposed employment in the US, require an approved petition (Form I - 140) from an INS office in the US. People who qualify as Priority Workers may petition on their own behalf with the INS, while others must have prospective employers file their petitions. Prior to filing a petition with the INS, applicants for classification as a member of the professions, professionals, skilled or unskilled workers must obtain certification from the Department of Labor that there are no qualified workers available for the proposed employment in the US.

An investor, as described above, must file a Form I -526 petition with INS.

Special immigrant returning residents and US government employees, as described above, must apply to the Secretary of State through a US consular office abroad. All other special immigrants must file a Form I-360 petition with an INS office

Diversity Transition Immigrants, as described above, must file an application with the Secretary of State, and will be chosen in the chronological order in which they have applied. Provisions for submission of registration applications will be announced by the Department of State in advance of each year's application period. A Diversity Immigrant must file an application with the Secretary of State. Only one such application may be filed each year. Aliens who qualify through random selection must apply for and receive their visas within one year of selection.

Other Important Information

Documents Required in Support of a Visa Application: All applicants must submit certain personal documents such as passports, birth certificates, police certificates, and other civil documents, as well as evidence that they will not become public charges of the United States. The consular officer will inform visa applicants of the documents needed as their applications are processed.

Medical Examinations. Before the issuance of an immigrant visa, every applicant, regardless of age, must undergo a medical examination. The examination will be conducted by a doctor designated by the Consular officer. Costs for such examinations must be borne by the applicant.

Visa Fees. The cost of each formal immigrant visa application is $260 USD or the CFA equivalent, and the cost of each issued immigrant visa is $65 USD or the CFA equivalent. Fees must be paid by, or on behalf of, each intending immigrant regardless of age, and are not refundable and should not be sent to the consular office unless specifically requested. The INS charges additional fees for filing petitions.

Affidavits of Support (Form I-864). There are three Web sites that you can visit to obtain information about this form:

• For General Information:  http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_1328.html
• For an I-864 form checklist: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_1329.html
• To download the I-864 information package: http://uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/i-864pkg.htm

Effective December 14, 1998, the Department of State is implementing a new procedure to assist prospective immigrants to comply with the requirement to demonstrate that they are not likely to become a public charge to the US Government. This new 1-864 procedure will also streamline processing of Immigrant Visas.

The State Department's National Visa Center (NVC), located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, will now mail the Affidavit of Support (1864) form directly to the U.S. petitioner who is sponsoring the prospective immigrant's visa application. Under the old system, NVC sent the form to the applicant, who then had to forward it to the U.S. petitioner. In most cases, NVC will instruct the petitioner to send the completed Affidavit of Support (1-864) to the applicant for presentation to the Embassy at the time of the visa interview.

Using these new steps, we will be able to minimize the number of refusals due to incomplete documentation and thus, save the applicant from having to make unnecessary visits to the Embassy.

Other Notes

In addition to the numerical limitations for each category of immigrant visa described above, there are limits on various sub-preferences, as well as limits on the number of immigrant visas per year which can be issued to natives of any single country. Some of these numerical limits are based on formulas which change in relationship to each other, so that it is not possible to state a specific figure for each sub-category.

Whenever there are more qualified applicants for a category than there are available numbers, the category will be considered oversubscribed, and immigrant visas will be issued in the chronological order in which the petitions were filed until the numerical limit for the category is reached. The filing date of a petition becomes the applicant's priority date. Immigrant visas cannot be issued until an applicant's priority date is reached. In certain heavily oversubscribed categories, there may be a waiting period of several years before a priority date is reached.

Since no advance assurances can be given that a visa will be issued, applicants are advised not to make any final travel arrangements, not to dispose of their property, and not to give up their jobs until visas have been issued to them. An immigrant visa is valid for 6 months from the date of issuance.

Persons born in countries other than the United States may have a claim, under US law, to United States nationality if: either parent was born or naturalized in the United States OR either parent was a United States citizen at the time of birth of the applicant. With few exceptions, a person born in the United States has a claim to United States citizenship. Any applicant believing that he or she may have a claim to United States citizenship should not apply for a visa until his or her citizenship has been determined. The applicant should inform the consular officer immediately of a potential qualification for a US passport rather than an immigrant visa.