Immigrant Visas

General Information about Immigrant Visas

Immigrating to the United States permanently is an important and complex decision. In general, in order to be eligible to apply for an immigrant visa, a foreign citizen must be sponsored by a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident relative(s), or by a prospective employer.

Foreign citizens wishing to immigrate to live permanently in the United States must comply with U.S. immigration law and specific procedures to apply for their visas.

By U.S. immigration law, immigrants to the United States are divided into two general categories:

• those who may obtain legal permanent residence status without numerical limitation, and
• those who are restricted by an annual limitation on the number of persons who may enter as permanent residents.

The second category is further divided into:

• family sponsored immigrants,
• employment based immigrants, and
• diversity immigrants.

Categories of immigrant visas

There are two categories of immigrant visas

Non-numerical limited immigrants:

Immediate Relatives of United States Citizens: The spouse and minor unmarried children of a United States citizen, and the parent of a United States citizen who is over the age of twenty-one.
Returning Residents: Immigrants who have lived in the United States previously as lawful permanent residents and are returning to their unrelinquished residence in the United States after a temporary visit of more than one year abroad.

Numerical Limited immigrants: Click here for more information