An Immigrant US visa is one which will allow you to live and work permanently in the United States – these are markedly different to nonimmigrant visas which are usually obtained by people want to travel around the United States with some offering the option of being able to work there for an extended period of time – the J-1 Visa program being a perfect example of a nonimmigrant visa. In short any citizen of a foreign country will require an immigration visa to enter the United States and the purpose of your visit will dictate the type of visa you apply for and hopefully acquire. It\’s also important to note that there are a limited number of both immigrant and non-immigrant visas available each year and once that quota has been reached all further applicants are placed on a waiting list.
To obtain a full immigrant visa for residency in the United States you normally need to be sponsored by an existing U.S. citizen or relative, who is 21 years of age or older, and who has full U.S. Citizenship. Alternatively you can be sponsored by a prospective employer. The first part of acquiring this type of visa is to petition the US Citizenship and Immigration Service to allow the applicant to actually apply. When this petition is approved it\’s then sent to the National Visa Center (NVC), who are responsible for providing all the documentations you need to apply for your visa in the first place.
There is fee with this visa services, starting at $190 per application for a petition based visa but certain special types of visa can cost several hundred dollars.
Types of Immigrant Visas:
Immediate Relatives
To obtain a visa for an immediate relative you\’ll need to complete Form I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative) which covers a spouse, heir, a child of a US citizen or an adopted child of a US citizen. Unmarried children over 21-years of age are given first preference for this type of visa, this is then followed by spouses, then married sons and daughters of US citizens and the final preference is for sisters and brothers of US Citizens and their spouses and young children (under the age of 21). Unfortunately grandparents, cousins and uncles/aunts cannot sponsor a relative for immigration to the United States.
Special Immigrants
Examples of people who fall into the special immigrant class would be Iraqi and Afghan translators or those who have worked as interpreters, Iraqi or Afghan nationals who have worked on behalf of the US Government and lastly religious workers.
Diversity Visa
This special type of visa is unique in that you don\’t require a US sponsor so therefore there is no petitioning process. Applicants for this particular visa are drawn from countries with a statistically low level of immigration to the United States. If you\’re lucky enough to live in one of these countries the Diversity Visa can literally provide you with a free pass on the entire visa petition and approval process.
Employment Creation
There is also a special visa category for any foreign entrepreneur or business person who invests a minimum of $500,000 in the creation of jobs in the United States.
Employer-sponsored
A prospective employer in the United States can sponsor you for a visa to live and work in the country. The reason why this is possible is because anyone with an outstanding academic or professional ability or has a very specific type of work skill can prove to be very valuable to the US knowledge and financial economies. An employer needs to complete Form I-140 (Petition for Alien Worker) to begin the process of having a visa approved for a foreign worker.