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If you are a citizen of a foreign country who wants to come to the United States for a short period of time and for a specific purpose, you must obtain a nonimmigrant visa. When you get a nonimmigrant visa, the U.S. Government assumes you will perform a specific activity while you are in America. You are therefore given a specialized visa authorizing that activity and no other. Each type of nonimmigrant visa is identified by a letter-number combination, as well as a name. You may already be familiar with the more popular types of nonimmigrant visas such as B-2 visitors, E-2 investors or F-1 students.

While nonimmigrant visas come in many varieties, they all have one major feature in common: they are temporary. If you travel to the United States on a nonimmigrant visa and the INS thinks you do not plan to go home, your visa will be taken away.

A nonimmigrant visa is something you can see and touch: it is a stamp placed on a page in your passport. A visa stamp cannot be issued inside the United States. You can obtain it only at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate in another country. Your nonimmigrant visa gives you certain privileges, the greatest of which is the right to request entry into the United States. Other privileges depend on the type of visa, but may include permission to work, study or invest money while in the United States.

While applying for a visa, you may encounter the word "status." This is the name given to the particular group of privileges you receive after being allowed to enter the United States with your visa. For example, a student visa is the document that allows a student to come to the United States to study. The student visa holder has the status of being a student. The visa allows the student to travel to and from the United States, while the status allows the individual to go to school in the United States.

Types of Nonimmigrant Visas

Nonimmigrant visas differ from each other in the kinds of privileges they offer, as well as how long they last. As mentioned earlier, every nonimmigrant visa is issued with a specific purpose in mind.

Complete List of Nonimmigrant Visas

A-1. Ambassadors, public ministers or career diplomats and their immediate family members.

A-2. Other accredited officials or employees of foreign governments and their immediate family members.

A-3. Personal attendants, servants or employees and their immediate family members of A-1 and A-2 visa holders.

B-1. Business visitors.

B-2. Tourist visitors.

C-1. Foreign travelers in immediate and continuous transit through the U.S.

D-1. Crewmen who need to land temporarily in the U.S. and who will depart aboard the same ship or plane on which they arrived.

E-1. Treaty traders working for a U.S. trading company that does 50% or more of its business with the trader's home country.

E-2. Treaty investors working for a U.S. company with 50% or more of its investment capital coming from the worker's home country.

F-1. Academic or language students.

F-2. Immediate family members of F-1 visa holders.

G-1. Designated principal resident representatives of foreign governments coming to the U.S. to work for an international organization, their staff members and immediate family members.

G-2. Other accredited representatives of foreign governments coming to the U.S. to work for an international organization and their immediate family members.

G-3. Representatives of foreign government and their immediate family members who would ordinarily qualify for G-1 or G-2 visas except that their governments are not members of an international organization.

G-4. Officers or employees of international organizations and their immediate family members.

G-5. Attendants, servants and personal employees of G-1 through G-4 visa holders and their immediate family members.

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.

I. Bona fide representatives of the foreign press coming to the U.S. to work solely in that capacity and their immediate family members.

J-1. Exchange visitors coming to the U.S. to study, work or train as part of an exchange program officially recognized by the United States Information Agency.

J-2. Immediate family members of J-1 visa holders.

K-1. FiancŽs or fiancŽes 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.

L-1. Intracompany transferees who work in positions as managers, executives or persons with specialized knowledge.

L-2. Immediate family members of L-1 visa holders.

M-1. Vocational or other nonacademic students, other than language students.

M-2. Immediate families of M-1 visa holders.

N. Children of certain special immigrants.

NATO-1, NATO-2, NATO-3, NATO-4 and NATO-5. Associates coming to the U.S. under applicable provisions of the NATO Treaty and their immediate family members.

NATO-6. Civilians accompanying military forces on missions authorized under the NATO Treaty and their immediate family members.

NATO-7. Attendants, servants or personal employees of NATO-1 through NATO-6 visas holders and their immediate family members..

O-1. Persons of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics.

O-2. Essential support staff of O-1 visa holders.

O-3. Immediate family members of O-1 and O-2 visa holders.

P-1. Internationally recognized athletes and entertainers and their essential support staff.

P-2. Entertainers coming to perform in the U.S. through a government-recognized exchange program.

P-3.. Artists and entertainers coming to the U.S. in a group for the purpose of presenting culturally unique performances.

P-4. Immediate family members of P-1, P-2 and P-3 visa holders.

Q-1. Exchange visitors coming to the U.S. to participate in international cultural-exchange programs.

Q-2. Immediate family members of Q-1 visa holders.

R-1.. Ministers and other workers of recognized religions.

R-2. Immediate family members of R-1 visa holders.

S-1. People coming to the U.S. to supply critical information to federal or state authorities where it has been determined that their presence in the U.S. is essential to the success of a criminal investigation or prosecution.

S-2. People coming to the U.S. to provide critical information to federal authorities or a court, who will be in danger as a result of providing such information, and are eligible to receive a reward for the information.

S-3. Immediate family members of S-1 or S-2 visa holders.

Time Limits on Nonimmigrant Visas

Note that citizens of countries marked with an asterisk will find it difficult to get a visa under any category.

Most visas permit multiple entries into the United States. However, some visas allow only one visit. If you hold such a visa, you may use it to enter the United States only once. When you leave, you can't return again with that same visa, even if time still remains before its expiration date.

Immigrant Visas and Green Cards

People all over the world have heard of green cards. But the term green card is not an official name. It is a common term for what is properly known as an Alien Registration Receipt Card. Years ago, these cards were green. Then, for a while they were red, white and blue. Today they are pink, but the term green card has stuck.Lots of people mistakenly believe that green cards are nothing more than work permits. While a green card does give you the right to work legally in the United States, that is just one of its features. It's main function is to identify the holder as a permanent resident of the United States.

Getting a green card is not an easy process. First, in most cases you must have a sponsor, usually a relative or U.S. employer who wants to bring you to the United States. You must then convince the U.S. Government that you are eligible under one of the categories available for permanent residence. Once you have done that, you still don't get a green card. You must apply for an immigrant visa at the embassy or consulate in the country where you live.

The embassy or consulate will review your green card application, making sure you do not fall into any category of people who are excluded from the United States, which is called being inadmissible. Only then will you get an immigrant visa stamped into your passport. You must enter the United States within six months to claim your green card. If you do not act in time, the immigrant visa will expire and your right to a green card will be lost. If you are already in the United States when you apply for a green card you will not get an immigrant visa, and so will not have to deal with this deadline.

When you have a green card, you are required to make the United States your permanent home. If you don't, you risk losing your card. This does not mean your ability to travel in and out of the United States is limited. Freedom to travel as you choose is an important benefit of a green card. However, no matter how much you travel, you must maintain your permanent residence in the United States.

All green cards issued since 1989 carry expiration dates of ten years from the date of issue. This does not mean that the residency itself expires in ten years, just that the card must be replaced. The requirement to renew green cards every ten years applies only to cards with expiration dates.

Green Card Categories

The Immigration and Naturalization Service has many categories for permanent residents. You must fit into one of those categories to be eligible for a green card. There are often preferences and quotas within categories.

1. 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:

2. Preferences

Those who receive green cards under categories with quotas fall into one of several classifications called preferences. Although there are a number of preference categories, they actually cover only two general types of people:

Preferences give priority to certain individuals over others who apply for green cards.

Family first preference. Unmarried people, any age, who have at least one U.S. citizen parent.

Family second preference. Section A: Spouses and unmarried children under age 21 of a green card holder. Section B: 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, 21 years old or older, of U.S. citizens.

Group II: Employment Preference Green Cards

Employment first preference. Priority workers, including the following three groups:

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 individuals.

Employment fifth preference. Individual investors willing to invest $1,000,000 in a U.S. business--or $500,000 in economically depressed areas.

3. Ethnic Diversity: Green Card Lotteries

A certain number of green cards are given to people from countries that in recent years have sent the fewest immigrants to the United States. 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. To learn more, see Play the Lottery, Win a Green Card.

4. Special Immigrants

Occasionally, laws are passed making green cards available to people in special situations. Groups singled out for these green cards are not included in the preference system and are referred to as special immigrants. The current special immigrant categories are:

5. Refuge and Political Asylum

Every year, many people seek political asylum in America or try to get green cards as refugees. The two are often thought of as the same category, but there are some technical differences. A refugee receives permission to come to the United States with refugee status before actually arriving. Political asylum is granted only after someone has physically entered the United States, either as a nonimmigrant or an undocumented (illegal) alien.The qualifications for refugee status and political asylum are similar. You must fear political or religious persecution in your home country. If you are only fleeing poverty, you do not qualify in either category.

6. Temporary Protected Status

The INS 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 alone qualify you for a green card.

7. Amnesty

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 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 temporary residency applications as amnesty candidates was May 4, 1988, however, under certain circumstances late applications may still be accepted. If you believe you may be eligible for amnesty, check with an immigration attorney to see if you can still apply. Do not check first with an INS office because, if it turns out you don't qualify, you could inadvertently cause your own deportation.

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 certain circumstances. Check with an immigration attorney if you think you are eligible in this category because if you are not, you could be deported.

9. Long-Term Residents and Other Special Cases

The law also 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 the INS 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.

Finally, individual members of Congress have, on occasion, intervened for humanitarian reasons in extraordinary cases, helping an individual obtain permanent residence even if the law would not allow it.

Quotas

There are no limits on the number of green cards that can be issued to immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. For those who qualify in any other category, there are annual quotas. Quotas affect family and employment-based preference green cards.Green cards allocated annually to employment-based categories, including investors and special immigrants, number 140,000 worldwide. In the family categories, approximately 480,000 green cards can be issued each year.

Only 7% of all worldwide preference totals added together can be given to persons born in any one country. There are, therefore, two separate quotas: one for each country and for the entire world. This produces an odd result because when you multiply the number of countries in the world by seven (the percentage allowed to each country) you get a much larger total than 100. What this means from a practical standpoint is that the 7% allotment to each country is an allowable maximum, not a guaranteed number. Applicants from a single country that has not used up its 7% green card allotment can still be prevented from getting green cards if the worldwide quota has been exhausted.

In addition to the fixed worldwide totals, 55,000 extra green cards are given each year through the ethnic diversity or lottery category. Qualifying countries and the number of green cards available to each are determined each year according to a formula. See Play the Lottery, Win a Green Card for more information.

How to Keep Your Green Card After You Get It

Once you receive a green card, there are only two conditions required to keep it for life. First, you must not become removable or inadmissible. The most common way of doing this is to be convicted of a serious crime.

The second requirement is that you not abandon the United States as your permanent residence. Residence, for immigration purposes, is a question of your intent when you depart the country. As long as you are not planning to make your home somewhere else, then legally you are still a resident of the United States. Problems arise, however, because the INS will try to judge your intention by the way you act.

As a general rule, if you have a green card and leave the United States for more than one year, you may have a difficult time reentering the country. That is because the INS feels an absence of longer than one year indicates a possible abandonment of U.S. residence. Even if you do return before one year is up, you may run into trouble. To avoid a full-scale inspection, you should return within six months.

It is a common misconception that to keep your green card all you need to do is enter the United States at least once a year. The fact is that if you ever leave with the intention of making some other country your permanent home, you give up your U.S. residency when you go. Once again, the INS will look to your behavior for signals that your real place of residence is not the United States.

On the other hand, remaining outside the United State for more than one year does not mean you have automatically given up your green card. If your absence was intended from the start to be only temporary, you may still keep your permanent resident status. Staying away for more than one year does mean, however, that you may no longer use your green card as a U.S. entry document. Under these circumstances, you must either apply at a U.S. consulate for a special immigrant visa as a returning resident or you must get what is known as a reentry permit.

Reentry Permits

Reentry permits are for people who hold green cards and know in advance that they must be outside the United States for more than one year. Under such circumstances, the INS can allow you to stay away for up to two years. You should apply for this privilege before leaving. If the application is approved, a reentry permit will be issued. The permit will help you prove that your absence from the United States is not an abandonment of residence. It also serves as an entry document when you are ready to return. Reentry permits cannot be renewed and can be applied for only inside the United States. If you want to stay away for more than two years, you must return briefly and apply for another reentry permit.

Returning Resident Visas

If you stay outside the United States for more than one year and do not get a reentry permit before leaving, you must apply at a U.S. consulate abroad for a special immigrant visa as a returning resident. To get this visa you must convince the consular officer that your absence from the United States has been temporary and you never planned to abandon your U..S. residence. You will have to show evidence that you were kept away longer than one year due to unforeseen circumstances. Such evidence might be a letter from a doctor showing that you or a family member had a medical problem. If you do not have a very good reason for failing to return within one year, there is a strong chance you will lose your green card.

Applying for a Visa Abroad: U.S. Embassies and Consulates

The vast majority of U.S. visas are issued outside the United States at embassies or consulates. Embassies and consulates are part of the U.S. Department of State. Virtually every U.S. Embassy and many U..S. Consulates located in major cities worldwide have visa sections. Visa sections are usually subdivided into immigrant and nonimmigrant departments, but some consulates handle only one type or the other. When you are ready to apply, you will have to locate the consulate nearest you that is authorized to issue the type of visa you want. (If you need help understanding the different types of visas, see Visas and Green Cards.) The U.S. Department of State has a website with helpful immigration information, including how to find a consulate near you. Begin your search at http://travel.state.gov/.

When you apply for an immigrant or nonimmigrant visa at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate, you must usually do so in the country where you live. Embassies and consulates located in nations other than your home country will normally refuse to accept your application. Occasionally, a consulate in a country other than your present homeland may be persuaded to process your request, but these situations are exceptions and require advance approval. To apply outside your home country, you must show a compelling reason why you are unable to apply at home. If, for example, your home country has no diplomatic relationship with the government of your homeland, another country's U.S. Consulate may take your application. Check with the embassy or consulate where you want to apply to learn their particular rules.

To apply for a nonimmigrant visa in any country, you must usually be physically present within that country's geographic jurisdiction. However, a few countries may waive the requirement that you be physically present to apply. For example, the U.S. Embassy in London insists that all applications for U.K. nationals be submitted by mail; your presence there is necessary only if your case requires a personal interview. You must contact the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in your country to determine what its requirements are.

After you have determined where to submit your application, you must begin the process of applying. For some types of visas, applying is a one-step process that takes place at the embassy or consulate in the country where you live. This is the case with visitor visas, for example.

For other types of visas--including work, student and immigrant visas--obtaining a visa is a three-step process. First you must find a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or American employer willing to sponsor you. Then your sponsor must file a petition with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in the United States, asking the U.S. Government to allow you to apply for a visa. If the INS approves the petition, the third step is for you to file an application for a visa at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in your home country.

As indicated just above, most sponsorship petitions are filed with the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the United States--not at embassies or consulates. This is because most sponsors are U.S. citizens, permanent residents or companies inside the United States. However, if the sponsor is a U.S. citizen living abroad, the petition may be filed at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the foreign country where the U.S. citizen is living.

Applying for a Visa in the USA: The Immigration and Naturalization Service

While most visa requests are made at U.S. Embassies and Consulates abroad, there are many reasons why a person might want or need to file an application with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) while inside the United States. The vast majority of applications for green cards--or permanent residence--begin with the INS. This is because a United States citizen or permanent resident must usually file a sponsorship petition asking the U.S. government to allow the foreign national to file the immigration application.

The sponsor must guarantee that he or she will take responsibility for the immigrant's welfare for a period of time. In the case of an employment application, the employer must guarantee that the immigrant has a job and enough resources to live in the United States without public assistance. The employer must also prove that no American is willing to take the job being offered to the immigrant. This is done through a process called labor certification.

Many applications for other types of visas are also filed in the United States. For example, foreign nationals who arrive in the United States on one type of visa may later need to obtain a different type of visa because of a change in their personal circumstances. Students, for instance, may want to apply for a visa to work or workers might want to become students. These types of applications are filed in the United States.

INS Offices: Finding Your Way Through the Maze

Application procedures vary somewhat from one INS office to another. Most allow paperwork to be filed either by mail or in person, but some allow only one method or the other. If the type of visa for which you are applying requires an interview, most offices will conduct the interview after the papers are processed. A few, such as the INS office in Honolulu, will interview at the time of filing, completing all procedures in just one day. It is a good idea either to call or visit the nearest INS office to find out about procedures at that particular location. But you'll have to be persistent; many INS offices are poorly staffed and the telephones are frequently busy.

Most people who apply for green cards or visas want them as soon as possible. If you have applied for a type of visa that has an annual limit on the number of immigrants, the INS can do nothing to shorten the wait. But if you have applied in a category without a quota (usually as an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen) and have a compelling reason to speed up the process, the INS will sometimes accommodate you. This special attention is reserved for those who can show a genuine and pressing need for quick action. Simple convenience of the applicant is not a good enough reason and, even when the need is truly urgent, requests for faster processing may be turned down. Again, different offices have different policies. Call or visit your local INS office to find out whether expedited processing is available in your locale.

Four special INS offices, known as regional service- centers, have full responsibility for certain types of cases. Generally, applications that do not automatically require interviews must be submitted by mail directly to a regional service center. It is anticipated that in the future, all immigration petitions and applications may initially be filed at the service centers.Dealing with the regional service centers may be frustrating because public telephone access is limited and the possibility of a face-to-face discussion with an immigration examiner is almost nonexistent. This makes it difficult to get information on pending cases. The regional service centers have an automated phone inquiry system that can offer you limited help when you punch in your file number. (Of course, to use this system, you must first have that number.) Regional centers also respond to fax inquiries concerning pending applications, if they have been filed and the applicant is waiting for a decision beyond the estimated processing time stated on the receipt notice.

Online Help From the INS

Though the INS is rightly known as a confusing and confounding government bureaucracy, the agency's website is clear and helpful. You can use it to locate INS office nearest you. You can also download current immigration rules and regulations, along with many of the necessary forms. Start your search at http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/index.htm.

One of the things that is not easy to find on the INS website is help with your immigration questions or problems. There is, however, a national list of free legal resources at http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/lawsregs/advice.htm.