Immigrant Visas

Immigrant Visas (IVs), allow a citizen of another country to enter the United States to live and work there on a permanent basis. Except for Diversity Visas, all IVs require a petition to be filed with the Department of Homeland Security/United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. An agreement with the USCIS allows American citizens to file certain types of petitions at the Embassy.

For information regarding immigration rules and procedures, legal permanent residency, petition-based visas of all types, and forms, please visit the Department of Homeland Security/United States Citizenship and Immigration Services website at www.uscis.gov.

Information on various types of visas, as well as entry procedures to the United States at the Port of Entry can be found at http://travel.state.gov

Diversity Visas (DVs) are issued as part of a "lottery" program which is governed by very strict rules of entry and issuance. Applicants must be selected as part of a random drawing in order to qualify for further processing.

Most categories of IV are numerically controlled, meaning that a limited amount of IVs in these categories can be issued every year. Beneficiaries in numerically controlled categories sometimes have to wait many years for their opportunity to immigrate.

Whenever there are more qualified applicants for a category than there are available numbers, the category will be considered oversubscribed, and immigrant visas will be issued in the chronological order in which the petitions were filed until the numerical limit for the category is reached. The filing date of a petition becomes the priority date. Immigrant visas cannot be issued until an applicant's priority date is reached. In certain oversubscribed categories, there may be a waiting period of several years before a priority date is reached. Check the Visa Bulletin (http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html) for the latest priority dates.

There is no limit on the number of immigrant visas issued to spouses, children or parents of American citizens.