Immigrant Visas

Immigrant Visas cover a large group of people. Under the immigration laws an immigrant is an individual who intends to stay in the United States and give up their residency in a foreign country. This means you intend to stay in the United States indefinitely. While one does not have to give up their nationality of origin, one is not a U.S. citizen. Instead one is a lawful permanent resident. Historically, there was a point in time when the lawful permanent residence card was green, this is where the term green card comes from. Today the card is not green but white like most government issued cards.

When most people think of immigrants they are thinking about individuals who have moved to the United States for a better life and the immigrant does not intend to go back to their home country. Application for lawful permanent residence can be a time consuming process and can take a number of years depending on what classification you fall into.

For example, an applicant can be an immediate family member, an unmarried son or daughter over 21, a married son or daughter, or a brother and or sister. Each of these classifications have a different wait period when applying for the visa. The easiest way of telling where the immigration services are on the wait list for applicants is to visit the Visa Bulletin Board at http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html (this address is only accurate at time of posting and may change) and click on current bulletin. This page will display what year and month they are now processing for visas (both immigrant and non-immigrant).

Lawful permanent residence status grants the individual more rights than non-immigrant status but less than citizenship and the lawful permanent resident can still be deported or denied entry at a later time.