SudhirLawIMMIGRATION US VISAS & CLASSIFICATIONS

VISA CATEGORIES AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION

(A) IMMIGRANT :

1. To Immediate Relatives (Unlimited - No quota restrictions):

Spouses of US citizens.
Unmarried people under the age of 21, who have atleast one use citizen parent.
Parents of US citizens, if the US citizen's children are over the age of 21 years.
Step children and step parents, if the marriage creating the step parents/step children relationship took place before the child's 18th birthday.
Parents and children related through adoption, if the adoption took place before the children reach the age of 16.

2. Through Preferences :

A. Family Preference (Quota of 2,26,000 per year):

Family First Preference (Quota of 23,400 per year): Unmarried people, any age, who have atleast one US citizen parent.
Family Second Preference (Quota of 1,14,200 per year): (a) Spouses and unmarried children of green card holders under the age of 21 years and (b) unmarried sons and daughters above 21 years of a green card holders.
Family Third Preference (Quota of 23,400 per year): Married people, any age, who has atleast one US citizen parent.
Family Fourth Preference (Quota of 65,000 per year): Sisters and brothers of US citizens, where the citizen is over 21 years old.

B. Employment Preference (Quota of 1,92,074 per year):

Employment First Preference : Priority workers. It includes (a) persons of extraordinary ability in the arts, science, education, business or athletics (b) outstanding professionals and researchers.
Employment Second Preference : Professionals with advanced degrees or exceptional abilities.
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 US $ 10 lacs in US business or US $ 5 lacs in economically depressed areas.

3. Diversity Visa : Green Card Lotteries

4. Special Immigrants : Occasionally laws are passed making green cards available to people in special situation. At present it includes religious workers, foreign medical graduates who have been in US since 1978, former employees of the Panama Canal Zone, foreign workers who are normally long term employees of the US Government, retired officers or employees of certain international organization who have lived in US for a certain time, foreign workers who have been employees of the US Consulate in Hong Kong for atleast three years and foreign children who have been declared dependent in juvenile courts in the US.

5. Refugees & Political Asylees

6. Temporary Protected Status

7. Amnesty

8. Special Agricultural Workers

9. Long Term Residents and Other Special Cases : People who are illegally in the US for more than 10 years, if their spouses or children, who are US citizens, would face extraordinary and exceptional unusual hardships.

(B) NON-IMMIGRANT :

VISA NOS.	PARTICULARS/DESCRIPTION
A-1	Ambassadors, public ministers or career diplomats and their immediate families
A-2	Other accredited officials or employees of foreign governments and their immediate families
A-3	Personal Attendants, Servants or Employees and their immediate families, of A and A-2 Visa Holders
B-1	Business Visitors
B-2	Tourist Visitors
C-1	C-1 Foreign travellers in immediate and continuous transit through the U.S.
D-1	Crewman 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
E-2	Treaty Investors
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 families
G-2	Other Accredited Representatives of Foreign Governments coming to the U.S. to work for an international organization, and their immediate Families
G-3	Representatives of Foreign Governments and their immediate families who would ordinarily qualify for G-1 or G-2 Visas exempt that their governments are not members of an international organization
G-4	Officers or Employees of international organizations and their immediate families
G-5	Attendants, Servants and Personal Employees of G-1 through G-4 Visa Holders, and their immediate families
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 families
NATO-6	Members of civilian components accompanying military forces on missions authorized under the North Atlantic Treaty, and their immediate families
NATO-7	Attendants, Servants or Personal Employees of NATO 1 through NATO 6 Visa Holders and their immediate families
H-1A	Registered Nurses
H-1B	Persons working in Specialty Occupations requiring at least a Bachelor's degree or its equivalent in on-the-job experience
H-2A	Temporary Agriculture 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 their is a shortage of available qualified American workers
H-3	Temporary Trainees
H-4	Immediate families 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 families
J-1	Exchange Visitors coming to the U.S. to study, work or train as part of an exchange program officially recognized by the U.S. Information Agency
J-2	Immediate families of J-1 Visa Holders
K-1	Fiance(e)s 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	Intra-company Transferees who work as Managers, Executives or Persons with Specialized Knowledge
L-2	Immediate families of L-1 Visa Holders
M-1	Vocational or other non-academic Students, other than language Students
M-2	Immediate families of M-1 Visa Holders
O-1	Persons of Extraordinary Ability in the sciences, arts, education, business or athletics
O-2	Immediate families of O-1 Visa Holders
P-1	Internationally recognized Athletes and Entertainers
P-2	Entertainers coming to perform in the U.S. through an exchange program
P-3	Artists and Entertainers coming to the U.S. to give culturally unique performances in a group
P-4	Immediate families of P-1 and P-2 Visa Holders
Q-1	Visa Exchange Visitors coming to the U.S. to participate in international cultural exchange programs
Q-2	Immediate families of Q-1 Visa Holders
R-1	Ministers of recognized religions
R-2	Immediate families of R-1 Visa Holders
S	Persons providing information or assistance to US Law Enforcement Agencies (were available till September 13, 1999)
TN	Canadian and Mexican professionals and consultants
TD	Spouses and unmarried minor children of TN visa holders
V	Spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents of US waiting for more than 3 years for immigrant visas