Admissibility
Individuals who are admissible are permitted by law to enter or to remain in the United States.
Administrative Appeals Office (AAO)
The Administrative Appeals Office, full name USCIS Administrative Appeals Office, is an office that can be used by petitioners to appeal adverse USCIS decisions made on their petitions.
Asylum Seekers
People who file an application for asylum in a country other than their country of nationality.
Beneficiary
A term commonly used in immigration law to refer to a person on whose behalf a relative or employer has filed a petition for the individual to be granted lawful permanent resident status.
BIA
See Board of Immigration Appeals.
Board of Immigration Appeals
The appellate body within the Executive Office for Immigration Review that reviews appeals of decisions made by Immigration Judges and of certain decisions made by officials of the Department of Homeland Security.
Cancellation of Removal
A discretionary action of an Immigration Judge changing an alien’s status from “deportable” to “lawfully admitted for permanent residence.” Cancellation of removal may be applied for during a hearing before an Immigration Judge.
CFR
See Code of Federal Regulations.
Code of Federal Regulations
The codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the Federal Government.
Conditional Resident
A Lawful Permanent Residnent (LPR) whose status was granted subject to a condition. After two years in this status, conditional residents must apply to remove the condition. Conditional Resident status is granted in Immigrant petitions based on marriage and immigrants who are granted entry for the purpose of establishing a business in the U.S. Immigrants who are unable to meet the requirements for petitioning to remove the condition may in some circumstances obtain a waiver of the requirement.
Consul
An official within the U.S. State Department who is stationed at a consulate in a foreign country and whose responsibility it is, among other things, to process applications for visas. Immigrant visa applicants already living in the United States who are not eligible for adjustment of status must leave the U.S. to have an interview and receive their visa at a consulate.
Convention Against Torture (CAT)
An international treaty that the United States has ratified that prohibits the involuntary return of any individual to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
The agency created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 which replaced the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on March 1, 2003. DHS is divided into three (3) units: the Citizenship and Immigrations Services (CIS) which processes immigration petitions such as naturalization and asylum applications; the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which handles immigration enforcement within the U.S. border; and Customs and Boarder Protection (CBP) which handles enforcement matters outside the U.S. border.
Deportation
Formally removing an alien from the United States for violating the immigration laws. An immigration judge must find the alien removable and order deportation.
Derivative Beneficiary
See Beneficiary.
Derivative Citizenship
See Derivative Naturalization.
Derivative Naturalization
The operation of law by which a child under 18 years of age may automatically become a U.S. citizen as a result of the naturalization of one or both parents. This process has two basic requirements: the naturalization of one or both parents and the attainment of lawful permanent resident status by the child before a certain age.
Diversity Visa
An immigrant visa available to individuals from countries from which relatively few people have immigrated to the United States in recent years.
Domicile
A term that is generally used to describe a person’s primary place of residence combined with that person’s intent to reside at that residence.
Employment Authorization
Permission to accept employment in the United States.
Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)
A branch of the U.S. Department of Justice that operates independently of the Department of Homeland Security. The
Green Card
A term commonly used when referring to any Permanent Resident card, despite the fact that it has been years since the green versions of this card were issued.
I-9 Form
The “Employment Eligibility Verification” form used by United States employers to verify that their employees are eligible to be employed.
I-94 Card
The Arrival-Departure Record of particular foreigners used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) which must be completed at the time of entry to the United States by foreign citizens that are being admitted into the United States in a nonimmigrant visa status.
I-130 Form
The form used by U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to petition for an immigrant visa for a family member.
Immediate Relative
In immigration law, a person bearing one of the following relationships to a U.S. citizen: (1) the minor, unmarried child of a U.S. citizen; (2) the spouse of a U.S. citizen; (3) the parent of a U.S. citizen who is over 21 years of age; and (4) the widow or widower of a U.S. citizen, and any minor child of the immigrant. Immediate relative immigrants are not subject to the numerical limitations that apply to most other immigrants.
Immigrant
A person who leaves his or her country to settle permanently in another country. In immigration law, the term refers to any noncitzen in the U.S. except any individual who was ADMITTED TO THE UNITED STATES as a NONIMMIGRANT and continues to maintain that status.
Immigrant Visa
An official authorization appended to a passport that permits the bearer to enter and settle permanently within a particular country as a lawful permanent resident.
Immigration Court
An administrative tribunal that is part of the executive branch of the government, rather than the judicial branch, presided over by an Immigration Judge, who is charged with hearing cases involving questions of immigration law, typically involving removal, deportation, and asylum.
Immigration Judge
An administrative agency official who hears and decides cases brought before an Immigration Court.
Inadmissibility
See Admissibility.
INS
The Immigration and Naturalization Service, the name of the predecessor service to the Department of Homeland Security.
Inspection
An examination by an officer of the Department of Homeland Security of a person seeking to enter the United States, whether at the border or a port of entry, such as an international airport. Entry without inspection creates a host of problems and difficulties.
Joint Sponsor
A person assisting in the support of an immigrant and completing and affidavit of support when the primary sponsor lacks sufficient income and assets to support a sponsored immigrant at 125 percent of the federal poverty level.
Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR)
An immigrant who has been granted a status that allows him or her to reside and work permanently in the United States.
Lawful Temporary Resident (LTR)
A person who applied for and was given amnesty under the provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
Legalization
The technical term for the process of obtaining Lawful Permanent Resident status through amnesty.
Naturalization
The process by which immigrants become U.S. citizens, requiring, among other things, that the applicant must have lived in the U.S. as a lawful permanent resident for five years, three years if married to a U.S. citizen, or one ear for certain military veterans.
Nonimmigrant
A noncitizen who has been granted a nonimmigrant status that allows him or her to remain in the United States temporarily for a specific purpose.
Permanent Resident Card
A card, commonly called a “Green Card,” issued to immigrants as proof they have been granted authorization to live and work in the United States on a permanent basis.
Refugee
A noncitizen given permission to come to the United States because he or she was persecuted, or has a well-founded fear of being persecuted (on account of race, nationality, religion, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group), in his or her home country.
Removal
The expulsion of a noncitizen from the United States by legal process.
Resident Alien Card
Self-petition
A petition for an immigrant visa filed by an individual who is also the beneficiary of the petition. This group includes certain abused immigrants filing under the Violence Against Women Act and widows or widowers of U.S. citizens who qualify as immediate relatives.
Social Security Card
A card issued by the Social Security Administration to identify individuals for Social Security purposes. Lawful Permanent Residents and other immigrants permitted to work indefinitely in the United States qualify for an unrestricted card, which is the same as the one provided to U.S. citizens. Other work-authorized immigrants receive a card that states that is it valid for work only.
Sponsor
An individual who completes an AFFIDAVIT OF SUPPORT to help a sponsored IMMIGRANT enter the United States.
Stay of Deportation or Removal
An order temporarily halting the execution of a deportation or removal order.
Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
A temporary (typically 12 to 18 months) grant of permission to remain in the United States and to work that is granted to nationals of a particular country when the Attorney General determines that unstable or dangerous conditions in that country warrant such relief.
Undocumented Immigrant
A noncitizen who entered the United States without inspection or violated the terms of his or her nonimmigrant status.
U.S. Citizen
Any person, with the exception of the children of certain diplomats, who was born in the United States or its territories, certain persons born abroad whose parents are U.S. citizens who qualify for acquisition of citizenship, and non citizens who become citizens through naturalization.
Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA)
An act of Congress that established a procedure by which abused immigrants can self-petition to obtain lawful permanent resident (LPR) status and created two new nonimmigrant statuses: the T status for victims of trafficking, and the U status for victims and witnesses of certain crimes.
Visa
An official authorization appended to a passport that permits the person to whom it is issued to enter and travel or settle within the U.S. Nonimmigrant visas allow
Visa Lottery
The process whereby Diversity Visas are assigned at random to eligible applicants seeking to immigrate to the United States.
Visa Petition
An application filed by a U.S. Citizen or LPR as petitioner for a relative or an employer as petitioner for an employee that must be filed and approved before an immigrant beneficiary can receive a family-based visa or an employment-based visa.
Voluntary Departure
A form of relief in which individuals who are removable or deportable agree to leave the United States by a designated date, thus avoiding having an order of deportation or removal entered against them.
Waiver
A discretionary determination to excuse a ground of inadmissibility or deport ability that would otherwise apply to a noncitizen.
Withholding of Removal
Status available in removal proceedings that prohibits the DHS from returning an individual to a country where his or her life or freedom would be endangered. This status is similar to, but separate from, asylum.
