General Information about Immigrant Visas

Information on the Legal Rights Available to Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence in the United States.  Immigrant visa applicants are encourage to visit the following link in order to get more information about their rights : http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/pamphlet/pamphlet_5725.html.
Please contact the US Consular Section if you have questions.

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: Those immigrants who have lived in the United States previously, as lawful permanent residents, and are returning to their un-relinquished residence in the United States after a temporary visit of more than one year abroad.

Numerical Limited immigrants: Family-based preference categories subject to numerical limitation are:

First Preference: Unmarried sons and daughters of US citizens, and children.

Second Preference: Spouses, children, and unmarried sons and daughters of a lawful permanent resident alien. NOTE: At least seventy-seven percent (77%) of all visas available for this second-preference category will go to the spouses and children; the remainder will be allocated to unmarried sons and daughters.

Third Preference: Married sons and daughters of US Citizens, and their spouses and children.

Fourth Preference: Brothers and sisters of US citizens, and their spouses and children, provided the US citizens are 21 years of age or older.

Visit the following link for more information on: Family-based immigration.

Information on the Legal Rights Available to Immigrant Victims of Domestic Violence in the United States. Immigrant visa applicants are encourage to visit the following link in order to get more information about their rights : http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/pamphlet/pamphlet_5725.html.
Please contact the US Consular Section if you have questions.