Visa Types & Deportation Information

This visa is available for people coming to the United States temporarily to perform services in a specialty occupation or as a fashion model. A specialty occupation is defined as an occupation that requires (a) theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and (b) attainment of a bachelors or higher degree in the specific specialty (or its equivalent).

This visa is available for people coming to the United States temporarily to perform services as a registered nurse. The nurse may work for up to three years in health professional shortage areas.

This visa is available for people coming temporarily to the United States to perform agricultural labor or services.

Temporary worker: skilled and unskilled. This visa is available for people coming to the United States temporarily to perform services or labor, other than agricultural work, if unemployed persons capable of performing the service or labor cannot be found in the United States.

This visa is available for the spouses and children of H-1, H-2, and H-3 visa holders.

This visa is available for an applicant who, (1) within three years preceding the time of his application for admission into the United States, has been employed continuously for one year by a firm or corporation or other legal entity or an affiliate or subsidiary thereof and (2) seeks to enter the United States temporarily in order to continue to render services to the same employer in a capacity that is managerial, executive or involves specialized knowledge. The visa is also available for the applicant’s spouse and minor children if they will be accompanying him or joining him at a later time.

This visa is available for applicants who have extraordinary ability in sciences, arts, motion pictures, television, education, business, or athletics, which has been demonstrated by sustained national or international acclaim. The applicant’s achievements must have been recognized in the field through extensive documentation.

Alien (support) accompanying O-1. This visa is available to applicants who seek to enter the United States temporarily for the purpose of accompanying and assisting in the artistic or athletic performance of an alien who has been admitted under an O-1 visa. The applicant must be an integral part of the actual performance and must possess critical skills and experience that are not held and cannot be performed by other individuals.

This visa is available for spouses and children of O-1 or O-2 visa holders.

This visa is available for individual or team athletes as well as entertainment groups. Applicants are permitted to come to the United States temporarily to perform individually or as part of a group.

This visa is available for artists and entertainers in reciprocal exchange programs. The applicant seeks to enter the United States temporarily to perform individually or as part of a group. There must be a reciprocal exchange program between an organization in the United States and an organization in another country. The program must provide for the temporary exchange of artists and entertainers or groups of artists and entertainers.

This visa is available for artists and entertainers in culturally unique programs. The applicant performs as an artist or entertainer, individually or as part of a group, and seeks to enter the United States temporarily for the purpose of performing, teaching, or coaching under a commercial or non-commercial program that is culturally unique.

This visa is available for an applicant seeking to enter the United States for a period not to exceed five years to perform religious related work. The applicant must have been a member for two years of a religious denomination having a bona fide non-profit, religious organization in the United States.

This visa is available for students, scholars, trainees, teachers, professors, research assistants, specialists, or leaders in a field of specialized knowledge or skill, or other person of similar description, who is coming to the United States temporarily for the purpose of teaching, instructing, lecturing, studying, serving, conducting research, consulting, or demonstrating special skills as a participant in a program designated by the Director of the United States Information Agency.

This is a new non-immigrant category within the immigration law that allows the spouse or child of a US citizen to be admitted to the United States in a non-immigrant category. The admission allows the spouse or child to complete processing for permanent residence while in the United States. This visa gives those admitted permission to work while they await processing of their case to permanent resident status.

A citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States may file an I-130 petition to establish a relationship to certain alien relatives who wish to immigrate to the United States. If the petitioner is a US citizen, the petitioner may file the I-130 Petition for (1) husband, wife or unmarried child under 21 years old; (2) parents if the petitioner is at least 21 years old; (3) unmarried son or daughter over 21 years old; (4) married son or daughter of any age; and (5) brother or sister if the petitioner is at least 21 years old.

If the petitioner is a lawful permanent resident, the petitioner may file the I-130 petition for his or her (1) husband or wife; (2) unmarried child under 21 years old; and (3) unmarried son or daughter over 21 years of age.

This type of visa is available for a non-immigrant alien coming to the United States to conclude a valid marriage with a US citizen within ninety days after entry.

This is a new non-immigrant category that allows the spouse or child of a lawful permanent resident to live and work in the United States in a non-immigrant category. The spouse or child may remain in the United States until he or she becomes eligible to adjust status or obtain an immigrant visa, instead of having to wait outside of the United States as the law previously required.

Voluntary departure is the departure of an alien from the United States without an order of removal. An alien allowed to depart voluntarily concedes removability but does not have a bar to seek admission at a port of entry at a future time.

An applicant may file an application for stay of deportation if he has been ordered deported or removed from the United States and wishes to obtain a stay of deportation or removal

This is a discretionary benefit that adjusts an alien’s status from that of deportable alien to one lawfully admitted for permanent residence. An application for cancellation of removal is made during the course of a hearing before an immigration judge.

• extension/change of non-immigrant status
• employment authorizations
• travel documents
• replacement of permanent resident card
• replacement of initial non-immigrant arrival/departure records
• removal of conditions on lawful permanent resident status – any alien granted permanent resident status on a conditional basis (for example as a spouse of a US citizen) who is required to petition for the removal of the set conditions before the second anniversary of the approval of his or her conditional status.

Nationals from Guatemala, El Salvador, the Soviet Union, Russia, any republic of the former Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia are eligible to apply for suspension of deportation or special role cancellation of removal.

Temporary Protected Status establishes a legislative basis for allowing a group of persons temporary refuge in the United States. Under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the attorney general may designate nationals of a foreign state eligible for TPS if the country poses a danger to personal safety due to ongoing armed conflict or an environmental disaster. Grants of TPS are initially made for periods of six to eighteen months and may be extended depending on an applicant’s situation. Removal proceedings are suspended against aliens while they are in temporary protected status.

Under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) passed by congress in 1994, the spouses and children of United States citizens or lawful permanent residents may self-petition to obtain lawful permanent residency. The immigration provisions of VAWA allow certain battered immigrants to file for immigration relief without the abusers assistance or knowledge in order to seek safety and independence from the abuser.

This form of relief is available for applicants who are outside their home country because they are unable or unwilling to return to that country due to persecution or a well founded fear of persecution based on religion, race, membership in a social group, nationality, or political opinion.