Glosario
219 términos que el lector encuentra en las notificaciones de USCIS, en las audiencias y en este sitio, definidos en lenguaje claro y enlazados a las páginas que los usan.
- 221(g) Refusal
A consular refusal under INA 221(g) because the applicant has not yet established eligibility, usually pending documents or administrative processing. It is temporary, but it counts as a refusal on future forms, and the applicant has one year to respond before the case is closed.
- 287(g) Agreement
A written agreement under INA 287(g) delegating immigration enforcement powers to state or local police, who may question, detain and process people for ICE. The number of agreements has grown sharply since 2025, extending arrests to jails and traffic stops.
- A-Number
The Alien Registration Number, an eight- or nine-digit identifier beginning with A that DHS assigns to a noncitizen when a file is opened. It appears on notices, work permits, green cards and court documents and is the number used to locate a person in ICE custody.
- Adjustment of Status
The process by which a person already inside the United States becomes a lawful permanent resident on Form I-485 without applying for an immigrant visa abroad. It requires an approved or concurrently filed petition, an available visa number and, since a May 2026 USCIS memo, a favorable exercise of discretion.
- Administrative Processing
Additional security or identity review of a visa application after the consular interview, which the State Department treats as a refusal under INA 221(g) while it lasts. There is no published timeline, and a court will not order the consulate to finish.
- Administrative Warrant
A warrant issued by ICE itself, Form I-200 for arrest or I-205 for removal, signed by an immigration officer rather than a judge. It authorizes arrest in public but does not permit entry into a home without consent; only a judicial warrant does that.
- Admission
The lawful entry of a noncitizen into the United States after inspection and authorization by an immigration officer at a port of entry. Whether a person was admitted, paroled or entered without inspection determines which grounds of removal apply and whether adjustment of status is available.
- Advance Parole
Permission, requested on Form I-131 and issued as Form I-512L, that lets a person with a pending adjustment application or certain other status leave the United States and return without abandoning the application. Since a 2026 BIA decision a departure on advance parole can trigger the unlawful presence bars.
- Affidavit of Support
Form I-864, a contract in which a petitioner or joint sponsor promises the United States government to support an immigrant at a set share of the poverty guidelines. It is required in most family cases, is enforceable against the sponsor, and lasts until the immigrant naturalizes or earns 40 quarters of work.
- Affirmative Asylum
An asylum application filed with USCIS on Form I-589 by a person who is not in removal proceedings. Since July 2026 an asylum officer may refer the case to immigration court on the written record without an interview, so the application and its attachments may be the whole case USCIS sees.
- Age-Out
Losing eligibility for a benefit by turning 21, as a derivative child or a Special Immigrant Juvenile. The Child Status Protection Act freezes age in many family and employment cases, and an SIJ petition filed before the birthday cannot be denied for later age.
- Aggravated Felony
A category of offences defined at INA 101(a)(43) that includes murder, drug and firearms trafficking, and many theft, fraud and violence convictions with a sentence of a year or more. A conviction makes a noncitizen deportable, bars asylum and cancellation of removal, and triggers mandatory detention.
- Alien
The statutory term at INA 101(a)(3) for any person who is not a citizen or national of the United States. USCIS restored the word throughout its Policy Manual in February 2025 after using noncitizen from 2021; the two terms mean the same thing in law.
- Alien Registration
The requirement under INA 262 that noncitizens who stay more than 30 days register with DHS and carry proof of registration. Since April 2025 people without a registration document must file Form G-325R through a USCIS account, and failure to register is a misdemeanour.
- Alternatives to Detention
ICE's supervision program for people released from custody: GPS ankle monitors, a smartphone check-in app or telephone reporting, run by a contractor. Enrollment is a condition of release and can be tightened or converted to detention at ICE's discretion.
- Application Support Center
A USCIS office where applicants attend biometrics appointments to have fingerprints, a photograph and a signature captured for background checks and document production. Appointments are scheduled by notice after filing and can be rescheduled online for good cause.
- Arriving Alien
A person seeking admission at a port of entry, or paroled after presenting there, who has not been admitted. Arriving aliens are subject to expedited removal, cannot ask an immigration judge for bond, and after a 2025 BIA decision the government treats many people who entered without inspection as if they were still applicants for admission.
- Asylee
A person who has been granted asylum in the United States. An asylee may work, petition on Form I-730 for a spouse and children within two years, and apply for a green card on Form I-485 after one year of physical presence; asylee adjustment is exempt from the public charge ground.
- Asylum
Protection granted to a person in the United States who has suffered or fears persecution in their country on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. It is requested on Form I-589, within one year of arrival unless an exception applies, and leads to permanent residence after a year.
- Asylum Clock
The count of days an asylum application has been pending, which governs when the applicant may apply for a work permit. The clock starts at filing, stops for delays the applicant requests, and the application for employment authorization may be filed after 150 days and granted after 180 days.
- Asylum Office
One of the USCIS field offices, within the Refugee, Asylum and International Operations directorate, that interview affirmative asylum applicants and conduct credible and reasonable fear screenings. Each office covers a set of states and schedules interviews mostly on a last-in, first-out basis.
- Asylum Officer
A USCIS officer trained to interview asylum applicants and conduct credible fear and reasonable fear screenings. The officer may grant asylum, refer the case to immigration court, or, since July 2026, refer an affirmative application on the paper record without interviewing the applicant.
- Attorney General
The head of the Department of Justice, who controls the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals through EOIR. The Attorney General may refer BIA decisions to themselves and issue precedent that binds every immigration judge and DHS adjudicator, and the statute still names the office in many provisions DHS now administers.
- B-1/B-2 Visitor Visa
The nonimmigrant visa for temporary visits, B-1 for business and B-2 for tourism or medical treatment, usually issued as a combined B-1/B-2. Admission is normally for up to six months, the visitor may not work, and overstaying or working while in B status is a common adverse factor in later adjustment cases.
- Beneficiary
The person on whose behalf a petition is filed, as opposed to the petitioner who files it. A beneficiary of an approved family or employment petition gains a priority date and a classification but no status, and USCIS may issue a Notice to Appear to a beneficiary who is removable.
- Biometrics
The fingerprints, photograph and signature USCIS collects at an Application Support Center to run FBI and DHS background checks and to produce secure documents. Since April 2024 the biometrics charge is folded into most filing fees, with a separate $30 fee only in limited cases.
- Board of Immigration Appeals
The appellate body within EOIR that reviews decisions of immigration judges and some DHS decisions. Its precedent decisions bind immigration courts and DHS nationwide unless overruled by the Attorney General or a federal court; a further appeal goes to the federal court of appeals by petition for review.
- Bona Fide Marriage
A marriage entered in good faith with the intent to build a life together, and not to evade immigration law. Since October 2025 USCIS requires the petitioner to prove it before the I-130 is approved and again at adjustment, using joint property, leases, commingled finances, children's birth certificates and third-party affidavits.
- Bond Hearing
A hearing at which a detained person asks an immigration judge to set or lower bond, separate from the removal case. The judge weighs danger and flight risk; since a 2025 BIA decision the government argues that people who entered without inspection cannot have one, and the federal circuits are split on whether that is correct.
- Cancellation of Removal
A defense available only in immigration court that cancels removal and grants a green card. Permanent residents need seven years of residence and five as residents with no aggravated felony; others need ten years of continuous physical presence, good moral character and exceptional and extremely unusual hardship to a citizen or resident spouse, parent or child.
- Case Inquiry
A request to USCIS about a pending case, made through the online account, the Contact Center or a service request once the case is outside posted processing time. Congressional casework and the CIS Ombudsman are the escalations when an inquiry produces nothing.
- Case Status Online
The USCIS web tool at egov.uscis.gov that shows the last recorded action on a case when a receipt number is entered. It reports events such as receipt, biometrics scheduling, requests for evidence and approval, and an update within the last 60 days counts as active processing for inquiry purposes.
- Certificate of Citizenship
A USCIS document, issued on Form N-600, that proves a person acquired or derived United States citizenship through a parent rather than by naturalizing. It is evidence of citizenship that already exists by law, and a passport serves the same purpose for most practical uses.
- Certificate of Naturalization
The document USCIS issues at the oath ceremony to a person who has naturalized, bearing the certificate number, photograph and date of citizenship. It proves citizenship for a passport and other purposes and is replaced on Form N-565 if lost or damaged.
- Change of Status
A request, filed with USCIS on Form I-539 or through an employer's Form I-129, to move from one nonimmigrant category to another without leaving the United States. The applicant must be in valid status when filing, and some categories, such as J-1 holders subject to the two-year rule, cannot change.
- Chargeability
The country to which an immigrant visa is counted for the per-country limits, normally the applicant's country of birth rather than citizenship or residence. It determines which column of the Visa Bulletin applies, which is why applicants born in India, China, Mexico and the Philippines wait longest.
- Child
For immigration purposes, an unmarried person under 21, including a stepchild if the marriage occurred before the child turned 18 and an adopted child under conditions set by statute. Turning 21 or marrying ends child status unless the Child Status Protection Act freezes the age.
- Child Status Protection Act
A 2002 law that lets certain children keep child status after turning 21 by subtracting petition processing time from their age and requiring them to seek a visa within a year of availability. It protects derivatives in the preference categories and children of citizens whose petition was filed before 21.
- Circuit Court of Appeals
The federal appellate court for a region of the country, which hears petitions for review of Board decisions from the circuit where the immigration judge sat. Its rulings bind immigration courts in that region, so the same question can have different answers in Texas and New York.
- Citizenship
Full membership in the United States, acquired by birth in the country, by birth abroad to a citizen parent under the statute in force, by derivation through a parent's naturalization, or by naturalization. Citizens cannot be removed and are outside the public charge and registration rules.
- Civics Test
The oral examination on U.S. history and government given at the naturalization interview. Since October 2025 applicants answer up to 20 questions drawn from a list of 128 and must get 12 right; certain older long-term residents take a shorter version.
- Civil Surgeon
A physician designated by USCIS to perform the immigration medical examination and complete Form I-693, which screens for communicable diseases, vaccination status, drug use and mental conditions tied to harmful behavior. Adjustment applicants must submit the sealed I-693, and USCIS defers to it on health.
- Concurrent Filing
Filing the I-485 adjustment application in the same package as the underlying I-130 or I-140 petition. It is always allowed for immediate relatives of citizens and for preference applicants only when the priority date clears the Visa Bulletin chart USCIS is honoring that month.
- Conditional Permanent Resident
A person granted residence through a marriage less than two years old, or through an EB-5 investment, whose green card expires after two years. The conditions are removed on Form I-751 or I-829 filed in the 90 days before expiry, and failure to file terminates residence automatically.
- Consular Processing
Obtaining an immigrant visa at a United States embassy or consulate abroad, through the National Visa Center and Form DS-260, rather than adjusting status inside the country. It is the route for beneficiaries outside the United States and the one a May 2026 USCIS memo directs officers to prefer for many applicants inside it.
- Continued Presence
A temporary immigration status that federal law enforcement may request from ICE for a trafficking victim who is a potential witness, allowing the person to remain and work while the investigation proceeds. It is granted for two years, renewable, and is separate from the T visa the victim may later seek.
- Continuous Physical Presence
The ten years of uninterrupted presence in the United States that a non-resident must show for cancellation of removal, ending when a valid Notice to Appear is served or a qualifying offence is committed. A single absence over 90 days, or absences totalling more than 180 days, breaks it.
- Continuous Residence
The requirement for naturalization that an applicant has lived in the United States as a permanent resident for five years, or three if married to a citizen, without a break. An absence of more than six months raises a presumption of a break, and one of a year or more breaks it outright absent an approved N-470.
- Convention Against Torture
The international treaty under which the United States will not return a person to a country where it is more likely than not that they would be tortured by or with the acquiescence of a public official. CAT protection is decided in immigration court, has no bars for criminal history, and confers no permanent status.
- Country Conditions
Evidence about the political, human rights and security situation in a country, drawn from State Department reports, UN and NGO documents and news, used to corroborate an asylum or CAT claim. Since USCIS may refer asylum cases on the paper record, the country evidence attached to the I-589 carries the weight an interview once did.
- Credible Fear Interview
A screening by an asylum officer for a person in expedited removal who says they fear return. The officer decides whether there is a significant possibility the person could establish eligibility for asylum; a positive finding sends the case to immigration court, and a negative one can be reviewed by an immigration judge.
- Crime Involving Moral Turpitude
A judge-made category of offences involving fraud, theft, or conduct that is base or depraved, such as most crimes of intent to defraud or serious violence. One conviction can make a person inadmissible, and one within five years of admission or two at any time can make a resident deportable, with a petty offence exception for minor cases.
- Cross-Chargeability
The rule allowing an immigrant visa to be charged to a spouse's or parent's country of birth instead of the applicant's own. A principal born in a backlogged country may use a spouse's current country and a derivative may use the principal's, but a parent may never use a child's country.
- Cuban Adjustment Act
A 1966 law that lets a Cuban native or citizen who was inspected and admitted or paroled apply for a green card after one year of physical presence, together with a spouse and children of any nationality. Applicants under the Act are exempt from the public charge ground and from the numerical limits.
- Customs and Border Protection
The DHS agency that inspects travelers at ports of entry, patrols the borders between them, issues the I-94 arrival record and decides admission or parole. CBP officers may conduct expedited removal, and admission is never guaranteed even to a person holding a valid visa or travel document.
- DACA
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a 2012 policy that defers removal and grants work authorization in two-year increments to people who arrived as children and met residence, education and record requirements. Renewals continue for existing recipients; new applications have been blocked by court order since 2021.
- Dates for Filing
The second chart in each monthly Visa Bulletin, showing the priority dates for which applicants may assemble and submit an application before a visa number is available for approval. USCIS decides each month whether adjustment applicants may use it; for family cases in September 2026 it did.
- Declaration
A signed written statement, in the applicant's own words, setting out the facts of a claim, most often attached to an asylum application or a waiver. Since USCIS may now refer asylum cases without an interview, a complete and translated declaration is often the only account of the facts the officer reads.
- Defensive Asylum
An asylum claim raised before an immigration judge as a defense to removal, either because the person was placed in proceedings directly or because USCIS referred an affirmative application. The hearing is adversarial, with a government attorney opposing, and the judge may also grant withholding or CAT protection.
- Deferred Action
A discretionary decision by DHS not to pursue removal of a person for a set period, which confers no status but usually allows a work permit. It underlies DACA, protection for approved U visa petitioners on the waiting list, and, until April 2026, automatic grants to Special Immigrant Juveniles.
- Deferred Inspection
A procedure in which CBP admits a traveler provisionally and orders them to appear at a deferred inspection site within a set time to resolve a question about admissibility or documents. Failure to appear can lead to a finding of inadmissibility and removal proceedings.
- Department of Homeland Security
The cabinet department that houses USCIS, ICE and CBP and administers immigration benefits and enforcement. Its Secretary issues immigration regulations, designates Temporary Protected Status, and holds the powers the statute assigns to the Attorney General for most matters outside the courts.
- Department of Justice
The cabinet department, headed by the Attorney General, that runs the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals through the Executive Office for Immigration Review and defends the government in federal immigration litigation. It also prosecutes immigration crimes such as illegal entry and marriage fraud.
- Department of Labor
The department that certifies labor condition applications for H-1B petitions and permanent labor certifications for most employment-based green cards, through the PERM process, to confirm that hiring a foreign worker will not harm United States workers. Its acceptance date for a PERM application becomes the worker's priority date.
- Department of State
The department that issues visas at embassies and consulates, runs the National Visa Center, publishes the monthly Visa Bulletin and the Foreign Affairs Manual, and administers the diversity visa lottery. Its consular decisions are largely unreviewable in court, and in 2026 it paused immigrant visas to 75 countries until a court set the pause aside.
- Deportation
The everyday term for removal, the formal expulsion of a noncitizen from the United States under an order of an immigration judge or, in expedited removal and reinstatement, of a DHS officer. Since 1997 the statute uses removal for what were formerly separate deportation and exclusion proceedings.
- Deportation Officer
An ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officer assigned to a detained or supervised person's case, who handles custody decisions, transfers, check-ins, travel documents and the execution of removal orders. The officer's name and field office are the first things a family should obtain after an arrest.
- Derivative Beneficiary
The spouse or unmarried child under 21 of a principal beneficiary who receives the same classification and priority date without a separate petition, by accompanying or following to join. Immediate relative petitions carry no derivatives; each family member of a citizen needs their own I-130.
- Derivative Citizenship
Citizenship a child acquires automatically by law, without applying, when a parent naturalizes while the child is under 18, a permanent resident, and living in that parent's custody, under INA 320. It is proven with a Certificate of Citizenship on Form N-600 or a passport.
- Detention Facility
A place where ICE holds people in civil custody: a dedicated processing center, a privately operated contract facility, or a county jail under an intergovernmental agreement. Which facility a person is in determines the visiting rules, the immigration court that hears the case and the federal circuit whose bond law applies.
- Discretion
The authority of an adjudicator to deny a benefit to a person who meets every legal requirement, by weighing adverse factors against equities. Adjustment of status, waivers, asylum and parole are discretionary; a May 2026 USCIS memo describes adjustment as administrative grace and demands unusual equities from anyone with an adverse factor.
- Diversity Visa
The annual lottery that allocates up to 55,000 immigrant visas to nationals of countries with low recent immigration to the United States, entered online in the autumn for the fiscal year after next. Winners must have a high school education or qualifying work experience and complete the visa before the fiscal year ends.
- DS-160
The online nonimmigrant visa application submitted to the State Department before a consular interview for visitor, student, work and other temporary visas. It collects biographic, travel, employment and security information and, for many categories, social media identifiers, and its answers bind the applicant at the interview.
- DS-260
The online immigrant visa application filed with the State Department through the National Visa Center after a petition is approved and a visa number is available. It is the consular counterpart of the I-485 and leads to an interview at the embassy or consulate.
- Dual Intent
The doctrine that a holder of certain nonimmigrant visas, chiefly H-1B and L-1, may intend to immigrate permanently without violating the temporary status. Most other categories require nonimmigrant intent, and a May 2026 USCIS memo says dual intent alone does not make adjustment of status the favored route.
- Duration of Status
The admission period, marked D/S on the I-94, given to F and J students and exchange visitors, which lasts as long as they maintain the program rather than to a fixed date. Unlawful presence for such a person begins only on a formal finding or an immigration judge's order, not on the day the program ends.
- EB-5 Investor
The employment-based fifth preference for a person who invests $1,050,000, or $800,000 in a targeted employment area or infrastructure project, in a business creating ten full-time jobs. Residence is granted conditionally for two years and made permanent on Form I-829; set-aside categories remained current in September 2026.
- Employment-Based Immigration
Permanent residence through a job offer or the applicant's own qualifications, in five preference categories from EB-1 to EB-5. Most cases begin with a PERM labor certification and a Form I-140 petition, then wait for a priority date under the Visa Bulletin before adjustment or a consular visa.
- Entry Without Inspection
Crossing the border without being inspected and admitted or paroled by an officer. A person who entered this way is inadmissible under INA 212(a)(6)(A), generally cannot adjust status under INA 245(a) unless a VAWA self-petitioner, and since 2025 has been treated by DHS as an applicant for admission subject to detention without bond.
- EOIR
The Department of Justice agency that runs the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals. Its judges decide removal cases, bond and relief such as asylum and cancellation; it is separate from DHS, which prosecutes. Since February 23, 2026 every EOIR fee is paid electronically through its payment portal.
- ERO
The ICE division that arrests, detains and removes noncitizens and supervises those released. ERO deportation officers manage detained cases, check-ins and travel arrangements for removal, and run the detention facilities and contracts that hold people awaiting hearings.
- Exceptional and Extremely Unusual Hardship
The hardship a citizen or permanent resident spouse, parent or child must face for a nonpermanent resident to win cancellation of removal under INA 240A(b)(1). Matter of Monreal requires hardship substantially beyond what removal ordinarily causes; economic loss or worse schools abroad is not enough on its own.
- Expedite Request
A request that USCIS decide a pending case ahead of its normal queue, made through the Contact Center or the online account. USCIS grants it in its discretion for reasons such as severe financial loss, urgent humanitarian need or a government interest, and expects documentary proof; most requests are refused.
- Expedited Removal
Removal by a DHS officer without a hearing before an immigration judge under INA 235(b)(1), used against people found inadmissible for fraud or lack of documents. Since July 17, 2026 it applies nationwide to anyone who cannot prove two years of continuous presence; a person who expresses fear of return receives a credible fear interview.
- Extraordinary Ability
A standard for people at the top of their field in science, arts, education, business or athletics. It supports the EB-1A immigrant petition, which needs no employer or labor certification, and the O-1 temporary visa; proof is a major international award or at least three of the regulatory criteria plus sustained acclaim.
- Extreme Hardship
The hardship a qualifying citizen or permanent resident relative would suffer if a waiver of inadmissibility is refused, the standard for the I-601 and I-601A waivers. It is more than ordinary separation but less than the exceptional and extremely unusual hardship required for cancellation of removal, and is judged on the whole family situation.
- F-1 Student
The nonimmigrant status for full-time academic study at a school certified by SEVP, obtained on a Form I-20 and a visa. Work is limited to campus jobs and approved practical training such as OPT, and a 2026 final rule replaced admission for duration of status with a fixed period that must be extended.
- Family Preference Categories
The four numerically limited groups for relatives of citizens and residents: F1 unmarried adult children of citizens, F2A spouses and minor children and F2B unmarried adult children of residents, F3 married children of citizens, F4 siblings of citizens. Each waits for its priority date to become current in the Visa Bulletin.
- Federal Register
The daily journal of the U.S. government in which agencies publish proposed and final rules, notices and fee adjustments. Immigration rules take legal effect through publication there, cited by volume and page such as 91 FR 37500, and the annual fee inflation notices and country designations appear in it as well.
- Fee Waiver
Permission to file a USCIS form without paying its fee, requested on Form I-912 or in writing by showing a means-tested benefit, household income at or below 150 percent of the poverty guidelines, or extreme financial hardship. The fees created by H.R. 1 in 2025 cannot be waived, and a 2026 proposed rule would end waivers for the N-400.
- Final Action Date
The chart in the monthly Visa Bulletin showing the priority dates for which an immigrant visa number is actually available. A case can be approved or a green card issued only when the priority date is earlier than the final action date for its category and country of chargeability.
- Final Order of Removal
A removal order that can no longer be appealed: the Board has ruled, the 30-day appeal period has passed, or the appeal was waived. Once final, ICE may carry it out, the 90-day removal period begins, and the remedies narrow to a motion to reopen, a stay of removal, or a petition for review.
- Firm Resettlement
A bar to asylum for a person who, before arriving in the United States, received an offer of permanent residence, citizenship or similar permanent status in another country. It does not apply if the stay there was a necessary step in flight or the conditions of residence were substantially restricted, and it does not bar withholding of removal.
- FOIA Request
A request under the Freedom of Information Act for the government's file on a person, made to USCIS on Form G-639 or online, and separately to ICE, CBP or EOIR. It is how a lawyer obtains the A-file, prior applications and the record of an old removal case before deciding what to file.
- Follow-to-Join
The right of a spouse or child to receive the same status as a principal who has already immigrated or been granted asylum or refugee status, without a new petition. Family-based derivatives follow through the consulate with the principal's priority date; asylees and refugees file Form I-730 within two years of their grant.
- Form G-28
The notice that an attorney or accredited representative files with USCIS, ICE or CBP to appear for a client. Once accepted the representative receives copies of notices and may speak to the agency about the case; the court equivalent is Form EOIR-28. It carries no fee.
- Form I-129
The employer's petition for a temporary worker in classifications such as H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, L-1, O-1 and TN, and for extensions and changes of status for those workers. It is filed with the fee for the classification, and a denial leads to a Notice to Appear only where the worker signed the petition.
- Form I-130
The petition a citizen or permanent resident files to establish a qualifying relationship with a spouse, child, parent or sibling. Approval creates the priority date and immigrant classification; the relative then adjusts status or processes at a consulate. It does not by itself give the relative any status or right to remain.
- Form I-131
The single application for advance parole, a reentry permit, a refugee travel document, TPS travel authorization, and parole requests. Which document is right depends on the status held; leaving without the correct one can abandon a pending adjustment application or bar return altogether.
- Form I-140
The employer's immigrant petition, or the worker's own in EB-1A and national interest waiver cases, that classifies a person in an employment-based preference category. It fixes the priority date, usually the PERM filing date, and an approved petition held for 180 days can be kept when the worker changes employers.
- Form I-212
The application for advance permission to return after a removal order, required by INA 212(a)(9)(A) for five, ten or twenty years depending on the order. It is decided on discretion and can be sought before the bar expires; a person subject to the permanent bar must wait ten years abroad before filing it.
- Form I-290B
The form for appealing a USCIS denial to the Administrative Appeals Office or asking the deciding office to reopen or reconsider. It must be filed within 30 days of the decision, 33 if the decision was mailed, with the fee; some denials, including the I-130, go instead to the Board of Immigration Appeals on Form EOIR-29.
- Form I-360
The petition used by VAWA self-petitioners, special immigrant juveniles, widows and widowers of citizens, religious workers and other special immigrants. It is free for VAWA self-petitioners and $250 for special immigrant juveniles under H.R. 1; approval gives a classification and priority date, not status.
- Form I-485
The application for a green card from inside the United States, filed when an immigrant visa is available under a petition or other basis. It is accompanied by the medical exam, the affidavit of support where required, and optional work and travel applications; a new edition dated September 18, 2026 becomes mandatory on that date.
- Form I-539
The application a nonimmigrant files to extend a stay or change to another nonimmigrant category, such as B-2 to F-1 or a dependent extension. It must be filed before the I-94 expires, and a denial after the period ends leaves the person out of status; a new edition takes effect September 15, 2026.
- Form I-589
The application for asylum, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture, filed with USCIS or in immigration court. It should be filed within one year of arrival, carries a $100 H.R. 1 fee plus an annual fee while pending, and since July 2026 may be referred to court on the paper record without an interview.
- Form I-751
The petition a conditional resident files in the 90 days before the two-year green card expires, jointly with the spouse or alone with a waiver for divorce, abuse or hardship. The receipt extends the card while it is pending, and a denial is one of the cases in which USCIS must issue a Notice to Appear.
- Form I-765
The application for a work permit, filed under an eligibility category such as (c)(8) pending asylum, (c)(9) pending adjustment, (c)(14) deferred action or (c)(31) approved VAWA petition. The base fee is $520 on paper and $470 online, with H.R. 1 surcharges for asylum, parole and TPS categories and $0 for U, T and VAWA filers.
- Form I-821
The application to register or re-register for Temporary Protected Status during the period announced for each designated country in the Federal Register. Under H.R. 1 the fee rose to $500 plus $30 biometrics, and a work permit is requested separately on Form I-765 at its own fee.
- Form I-9
The form every U.S. employer completes for each new hire within three business days, recording the identity and work authorization documents shown. It is kept by the employer, not filed, and is the point at which an expired work permit with no automatic extension becomes a lost job.
- Form I-90
The application to renew an expiring ten-year green card or replace one that is lost, stolen, damaged or wrong. The receipt notice extends the old card for 36 months; a card obtained by fraud or a status abandoned abroad can turn the filing into a referral for a Notice to Appear.
- Form I-914
The application for T nonimmigrant status for victims of a severe form of trafficking, with Supplement A for family members and an optional Supplement B law enforcement declaration. It is free, receives a bona fide determination on filing, and is capped at 5,000 principal grants a year; the median decision took 28.6 months in fiscal 2026.
- Form I-918
The petition for U nonimmigrant status for victims of qualifying crimes, filed free with Supplement B, the law enforcement certification signed within the previous six months, and Supplement A for family members. With 10,000 visas a year, most petitions wait years, holding a bona fide determination work permit in the meantime.
- Form I-94
The record of a nonimmigrant's admission, now electronic for air and sea arrivals and retrieved from the CBP website. It shows the class of admission and the date by which the person must leave, and that date, not the visa expiry, controls whether a stay is lawful. A replacement is requested on Form I-102 for $24 under H.R. 1.
- Form N-400
The application for citizenship by naturalization, filed online or on paper up to 90 days before completing five years as a permanent resident, or three if married to a citizen. It costs $760 on paper or $710 online, with a $380 reduced fee and a full waiver for those who qualify; a June 2026 proposal would raise it to $1,330 and end both.
- Good Moral Character
A requirement for naturalization, cancellation of removal and VAWA relief, measured over a statutory period of five years, or three for spouses of citizens, and through the oath. INA 101(f) lists permanent and conditional bars; since August 2025 USCIS also weighs the whole record, including conduct outside the period.
- Green Card
The card, Form I-551, that proves lawful permanent resident status. It is valid for ten years, or two for conditional residents, and is renewed or replaced on Form I-90; the status itself does not expire with the card. A pending N-400 receipt extends an expiring card by two years.
- H-1B
The nonimmigrant status for a specialty occupation requiring at least a bachelor's degree, petitioned by the employer on Form I-129 after a labor condition application. It is capped at 65,000 a year plus 20,000 for U.S. advanced degrees, runs for three years renewable to six, and permits immigrant intent.
- H-2A and H-2B
Temporary worker visas for seasonal jobs: H-2A for agriculture, H-2B for other seasonal or peak-load work such as landscaping, hospitality and construction. The employer must first obtain a temporary labor certification from the Department of Labor, and H-2B is capped at 66,000 a year unless Congress adds numbers.
- Habeas Corpus
A petition in federal district court challenging the legality of a person's detention, filed in the district where the person is held. Since 2025 it has become the main route to release for people denied bond hearings under the government's reading of INA 235, and the circuit courts are split on that reading.
- Humanitarian Parole
Permission under INA 212(d)(5) to enter or remain temporarily for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit, requested on Form I-131 or granted at a port. It is not an admission and confers no status; since 2025 parole carries H.R. 1 fees and the categorical programs of 2022 to 2024 have been ended.
- I-601 Waiver
The application to forgive a ground of inadmissibility such as unlawful presence, certain crimes or misrepresentation, usually by showing extreme hardship to a citizen or resident spouse or parent. It is filed after a consular refusal or with an adjustment application; filed in immigration court it now costs $2,100 under H.R. 1.
- I-601A Provisional Waiver
A waiver of the three- and ten-year unlawful presence bars decided before the applicant leaves for the consular interview, so the family knows the answer before the departure that triggers the bar. It requires an approved petition and extreme hardship to a citizen or resident spouse or parent, and covers unlawful presence only.
- ICE
The DHS agency responsible for immigration enforcement inside the country. Its Enforcement and Removal Operations arm arrests, detains and removes; its Office of the Principal Legal Advisor prosecutes cases in immigration court; Homeland Security Investigations handles criminal cases. It held a record 73,000 people in January 2026.
- Immediate Relative
The spouse, unmarried child under 21, or parent of a U.S. citizen aged 21 or over. Immediate relatives face no annual numerical limit, so a visa is always available and the I-485 can be filed with the I-130; a widow or widower of a citizen keeps the classification by self-petitioning within two years.
- Immigration and Nationality Act
The 1952 statute, amended many times since, that contains nearly all U.S. immigration law. It is cited by INA section, such as 212(a) for inadmissibility, 240A for cancellation or 316 for naturalization, and in parallel by title 8 of the U.S. Code, so that INA 240A is 8 U.S.C. 1229b.
- Immigration Bond
A sum, set by ICE or an immigration judge at a minimum of $1,500, paid to secure a detained person's release on condition that they appear at hearings. It is refunded when the case ends if the conditions were met, and is unavailable to people subject to mandatory detention or treated as applicants for admission.
- Immigration Court
The trial-level tribunal within EOIR where an immigration judge decides whether a person charged in a Notice to Appear is removable and whether relief applies. It is adversarial, with an ICE attorney opposing, and there is no appointed counsel; the courts carried roughly three million pending cases in 2026.
- Immigration Detainer
A request on Form I-247A from ICE to a jail or prison to hold a person for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release so ICE can take custody. A detainer is not a warrant, local compliance varies by state and county, and it is the mechanism behind most transfers from criminal custody to ICE.
- Immigration Detention
Civil custody of a noncitizen by ICE during removal proceedings or pending removal, in ICE facilities, contract facilities and local jails. The detained population passed 73,000 in January 2026, and whether a person may seek release from a judge now depends on the federal circuit in which the facility sits.
- Immigration Judge
An attorney appointed by the Attorney General to preside over removal proceedings, rule on bond, and grant or deny asylum, cancellation and other relief. Judges are Justice Department employees rather than Article III judges, and their decisions are appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
- In Absentia Order
A removal order entered when the respondent fails to appear for a hearing after notice. It can be rescinded on a motion to reopen filed at any time for lack of notice or within 180 days for exceptional circumstances; under Campos-Chaves (2024), a later hearing notice with a date counts as notice even if the charging document lacked one.
- Inadmissibility
The grounds in INA 212(a) on which a person may be refused a visa, admission or a green card: health, crimes, security, public charge, fraud, prior removals, unlawful presence and more. Some grounds can be waived on Form I-601 or I-192; others, such as a false claim to citizenship, generally cannot.
- Individual Hearing
The trial in immigration court at which the respondent testifies, witnesses are examined, and the judge decides the applications for relief. Evidence and briefs are due in advance under the court's deadlines, and the judge may rule orally at the end or reserve the decision, as happens when the cancellation cap is reached.
- Interim Final Rule
A regulation that takes effect on publication, with public comment invited afterward rather than before, on the agency's claim of good cause or that the rule is merely procedural. Most of the 2025 and 2026 immigration rules, including the fee codifications and the referral-without-interview rule, were issued this way and are challenged on that ground.
- Interview Waiver
A consulate's decision to issue or renew a visa without an in-person interview, or USCIS's decision to approve an adjustment application without one. Consular waivers have been narrowed since 2025 to a short list of renewals and categories, and USCIS waives adjustment interviews only case by case.
- Joint Sponsor
A second person who signs a separate Form I-864 when the petitioning sponsor's income falls below 125 percent of the poverty guidelines. The joint sponsor must be a citizen or permanent resident living in the United States, need not be related, and takes on the same enforceable support obligation until the immigrant naturalizes or earns 40 quarters.
- K-1 Fiancé Visa
A nonimmigrant visa for the fiancé or fiancée of a U.S. citizen, petitioned on Form I-129F, that permits entry to marry within 90 days. After the marriage the K-1 holder adjusts status on Form I-485 and receives a two-year conditional green card; the visa cannot be used to marry anyone but the petitioner.
- Labor Certification
The Department of Labor's certification, obtained through the PERM process on Form ETA-9089, that no qualified U.S. worker is available for the job and the wage will not depress U.S. wages. It precedes most EB-2 and EB-3 petitions, and its filing date becomes the immigrant priority date.
- Labor Condition Application
The employer's attestation to the Department of Labor, on Form ETA-9035, that an H-1B, H-1B1 or E-3 worker will be paid the prevailing wage and that working conditions and notice requirements are met. A certified LCA must accompany the I-129 petition, and the employer keeps a public access file for inspection.
- Lawful Permanent Resident
A person admitted to live and work in the United States permanently, evidenced by a green card. Status can be lost through a removal order or by abandonment after long absences abroad, and residents remain subject to the grounds of deportability; after five years, or three if married to a citizen, they may apply to naturalize.
- Lockbox
The USCIS mail-in filing facilities, run by a contractor, that receive paper applications, check fees and edition dates, and issue receipt notices. A filing with the wrong fee or an outdated form edition is rejected and returned, and a rejected filing loses its filing date, which matters for deadlines and priority dates.
- Mandamus
A federal court lawsuit asking a judge to order an agency to decide a case it has unreasonably delayed, under the Mandamus Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. It cannot dictate the outcome, only a decision, and it became the standard response to the 2025 and 2026 adjudication holds on asylum and adjustment applications.
- Mandatory Detention
Detention without a bond hearing required by statute: under INA 236(c) for people with listed criminal grounds, and under INA 235(b) for applicants for admission, which since September 2025 DHS and the Board read to include anyone who entered without inspection. Release then depends on ICE parole or a habeas petition.
- Master Calendar Hearing
The first, short appearance in immigration court, where the judge explains the charges, takes pleadings to the allegations, identifies the applications for relief and sets deadlines. Missing it produces an in absentia order; objections to a defective Notice to Appear must be raised before pleadings close.
- Motion to Reconsider
A request that the same decision-maker review its ruling for an error of law or fact on the existing record, without new evidence. It must be filed within 30 days of the decision at USCIS, the immigration court or the Board, and at EOIR now costs $1,065 before a judge and $1,030 before the Board.
- Motion to Reopen
A request to reopen a decided case on new facts or evidence that was not available before. In immigration court and at the Board it is generally due within 90 days of the final order and limited to one, with exceptions for in absentia orders, changed country conditions, VAWA and government joinder; the EOIR fee is $1,065 or $1,030.
- National Interest Waiver
An EB-2 immigrant petition that dispenses with a job offer and labor certification because the applicant's work has substantial merit and national importance, the applicant is well positioned to advance it, and waiving the requirements benefits the United States. The applicant self-petitions on Form I-140 under the Matter of Dhanasar test.
- National Visa Center
The State Department office in New Hampshire that holds approved immigrant petitions until a visa number is available, collects the DS-260, fees, affidavit of support and civil documents, and schedules the consular interview. A case that sits at NVC for a year with no contact from the applicant can be terminated.
- Naturalization
The grant of U.S. citizenship to a permanent resident who has met the residence, presence, character, English and civics requirements and takes the Oath of Allegiance. It took a median of about seven months in fiscal 2026, ends 8 U.S.C. 1367 confidentiality, and can be undone only by denaturalization in federal court.
- Nexus
The required link between persecution and a protected ground: race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. The applicant must show the ground was at least one central reason for the harm; fear of gang violence or crime with no such motive fails on nexus, however serious the danger.
- Nonimmigrant
A person admitted to the United States temporarily for a specific purpose, such as a visit, study or work, in one of the visa classes listed in INA 101(a)(15). Nonimmigrants must maintain the conditions of their class; most may not intend to remain permanently.
- Notice of Action
Form I-797, the letter USCIS sends to confirm receipt, approval, denial or a scheduled appointment on a case. The receipt version carries the receipt number and filing date used to track the case and to prove a timely filing.
- Notice of Intent to Deny
A letter from USCIS stating that it intends to deny a petition or application and explaining why, with a deadline, normally 30 days, to respond with evidence or argument. A NOID is the last opportunity to address the problem before a written denial.
- Notice to Appear
Form I-862, the charging document that begins removal proceedings in immigration court. It states the allegations, the charge of removability and the person's obligations, and since 2025 USCIS issues one on most denials that leave a person without lawful presence.
- Oath of Allegiance
The oath a naturalization applicant takes at a ceremony after Form N-400 is approved, renouncing foreign allegiance and pledging to support the Constitution. Citizenship is conferred at that moment, not at the interview, and the certificate is issued the same day.
- One-Year Filing Deadline
The rule in INA 208(a)(2)(B) that an asylum application must be filed within one year of the applicant's last arrival, unless changed or extraordinary circumstances excuse the delay. Since July 2026 an asylum officer may refer a late application to court on the paper record alone.
- Online Detainee Locator System
ICE's public website for finding a person in immigration detention by A-number, or by name with country and date of birth. It shows the facility and its contact details, and it is the first step for a family after an arrest.
- OPLA
The Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, the ICE division whose attorneys represent the government in immigration court. OPLA trial attorneys prosecute removal cases, respond to motions and decide whether to join or oppose requests for prosecutorial discretion.
- Order of Supervision
Form I-220B, the document ICE issues when it releases a person who has a final order of removal but cannot yet be removed. It imposes reporting and other conditions, and it usually permits an application for a work permit while the person remains under supervision.
- Overstay
Remaining in the United States after the period of admission on Form I-94 has ended. An overstay is unlawfully present and generally cannot change or extend status, but a person who was admitted, unlike one who entered without inspection, may still adjust through an immediate relative.
- Parole
Permission under INA 212(d)(5) to be physically present in the United States without being admitted, granted case by case for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit. Parole confers no status, may be terminated on notice, and since October 2025 carries a $1,020 fee at grant.
- Parole in Place
Parole granted to a person already inside the United States who entered without inspection, making them eligible to adjust status without leaving. It survives only for family of military members and veterans; the 2024 program for spouses of citizens was vacated by a federal court.
- Permanent Bar
The ground of inadmissibility in INA 212(a)(9)(C) for a person who accrues more than one year of unlawful presence, or is removed, and then enters or attempts to enter without admission. It lasts ten years before consent to reapply can even be requested, and no provisional waiver reaches it.
- Persecution
Serious harm or threats of harm, inflicted by a government or by actors it cannot or will not control, that an asylum applicant fears on account of a protected ground. Discrimination or harassment alone is generally not enough; past persecution creates a presumption of a well-founded fear.
- Petition for Review
The request to a federal court of appeals to review a final order of removal under INA 242, filed within 30 days of the Board's decision in the circuit where the immigration judge sat. Filing does not stop removal; a separate stay motion is needed, and the docketing fee is $600.
- Petitioner
The person or employer who files a petition asking USCIS to classify someone else, the beneficiary, for a visa. A citizen filing Form I-130 for a spouse is the petitioner; in self-petition categories such as VAWA and SIJ the applicant is both.
- Physical Presence
Actual time spent inside the United States, counted for benefits that require it: ten years for cancellation of removal, thirty months of the five years before naturalization, one year for Cuban adjustment. It differs from continuous residence, which concerns where a person lives.
- Port of Entry
A place where CBP inspects people seeking admission: an airport, a seaport or a land border crossing. Admission or parole happens there, and a person with a visa or travel document has no right to enter until the officer at the port decides.
- Preference Category
One of the numerically limited family or employment visa classes, such as F2A for spouses of permanent residents or EB-4 for special immigrants. Each has an annual quota and a queue in the Visa Bulletin; immediate relatives of citizens are outside the system and have no wait.
- Priority Date
The date a petition was filed, or a labor certification was submitted, which fixes a beneficiary's place in the queue for a preference visa. A visa is available when the priority date is earlier than the cut-off in the Visa Bulletin, and the date can be kept across some later petitions.
- Processing Time
The period USCIS reports for deciding a given form at a given office, published as the time within which most recent cases were completed. It is a statistic, not a promise; a case inquiry is allowed only once the posted time has passed.
- Prosecutorial Discretion
The government's authority to decide whether to arrest, charge, detain or pursue removal against a particular person. Since 2025 ICE and USCIS treat it as reserved for very limited cases, and prior guidance favoring dismissal of low-priority cases has been withdrawn.
- Protected Ground
One of the five reasons for persecution that qualify a person for asylum or withholding: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group and political opinion. The applicant must show the ground was at least one central reason for the harm.
- Public Charge
The ground of inadmissibility in INA 212(a)(4) for a person likely to depend on the government for support. A 2026 rule, effective September 18, 2026, broadened what officers may weigh; the ground does not apply to refugees, asylees, SIJs and several other humanitarian categories.
- Reasonable Fear Interview
The screening by an asylum officer for a person facing reinstatement of a prior removal order or administrative removal as an aggravated felon. A positive finding sends the case to withholding-only proceedings; a negative one can be reviewed by an immigration judge.
- Receipt Notice
The Form I-797C that USCIS mails after accepting a filing, showing the receipt number, the receipt date and the fee paid. It proves the case exists, starts most processing clocks, and for some renewals extends the prior document while the case is pending.
- Reentry Permit
A travel document, requested on Form I-131 before departure, that lets a permanent resident stay abroad for up to two years without the absence being treated as abandonment of residence. It costs $630 and requires biometrics in the United States before leaving.
- Refugee
A person outside the United States who was granted protection abroad because of persecution or a well-founded fear of it on a protected ground, and admitted under INA 207. The legal standard is the same as asylum; the difference is where the application is made.
- Refugee Travel Document
The passport-like document, requested on Form I-131, that refugees and asylees use to travel and return. It is free for refugees, and it is the only safe way to travel, since using the passport of the country of persecution can be treated as evidence the fear was not genuine.
- Registry
The provision in INA 249 that lets a person who has lived continuously in the United States since before January 1, 1972 obtain a green card regardless of how they entered. The date has not moved since 1986, so almost no one now qualifies.
- Reinstatement of Removal
The procedure in INA 241(a)(5) by which DHS revives a prior removal order against a person who returned without admission. There is no hearing before an immigration judge; the only route to protection is a reasonable fear interview leading to withholding-only proceedings.
- Removal of Conditions
The joint petition on Form I-751 that a conditional permanent resident who obtained the green card through a marriage under two years old must file in the 90 days before the card expires. A waiver of the joint filing is available after divorce, abuse or the spouse's death.
- Removal Order
The decision of an immigration judge, or of DHS in expedited or administrative removal, that a person must leave the United States. It becomes final when the Board affirms it or the appeal period passes, and it carries bars on returning of five, ten or twenty years.
- Removal Proceedings
The hearings before an immigration judge under INA 240 that begin with a Notice to Appear and end with an order of removal, a grant of relief or termination. The respondent may be represented at their own expense, and the government is represented by an OPLA attorney.
- Request for Evidence
A USCIS letter asking for more documents before a case is decided, with a deadline that is normally 87 days. A complete, timely response is required; a partial one is treated as a request for a decision on the record, and no response means denial for abandonment.
- Respondent
The person against whom removal proceedings are brought, named in the Notice to Appear. The respondent answers the allegations at the master calendar hearing, applies for any relief, and may appeal an adverse decision to the Board.
- Retrogression
A backward movement of a cut-off date in the Visa Bulletin, so that a priority date that was current one month is not the next. It happens when demand outruns the annual quota, usually late in the fiscal year, and a pending adjustment application then waits until the date returns.
- Returning Resident Visa
The SB-1 immigrant visa for a permanent resident who stayed abroad more than a year, or beyond a reentry permit, for reasons outside their control. It is applied for at a consulate on Form DS-117 and requires proof the absence was meant to be temporary.
- Safe Third Country
An agreement under INA 208(a)(2)(A) that bars asylum in the United States for a person who could have sought protection in a country with which the United States has such an accord. The 2025 and 2026 agreements with several countries have expanded the bar's reach.
- Selective Service
The registration required of almost all men aged 18 to 25 living in the United States, including undocumented immigrants and permanent residents. Failing to register can be treated as a lack of good moral character in a naturalization case filed before the applicant turns 31.
- Special Immigrant Juvenile Status
A green card classification under INA 101(a)(27)(J) for a child under 21 whom a state court has found cannot be reunified with a parent because of abuse, neglect or abandonment. The petition is Form I-360; the visa comes from the backlogged EB-4 category, and the child can never petition for either parent.
- Sponsor
The citizen or permanent resident who signs the affidavit of support, Form I-864, promising to maintain an immigrant at 125 percent of the poverty guideline. The promise is enforceable by the immigrant and by agencies that provide means-tested benefits, and it ends only at citizenship, 40 quarters of work, death or departure.
- Sponsor Deeming
The rule that, when a sponsored immigrant applies for a means-tested public benefit, the sponsor's income and assets are counted as the immigrant's own. It usually makes the immigrant ineligible and lasts as long as the affidavit of support is enforceable.
- Stay of Removal
An order that a removal order not be carried out for a period. It is automatic during a timely appeal to the Board, discretionary from the Board or a federal court on motion, and available from ICE on Form I-246 for $155 in grants of three months to a year.
- Stokes Interview
A second marriage-based green card interview at which USCIS questions the spouses separately and compares their answers, named after a 1976 New York consent decree. It is scheduled when the first interview raised doubts about whether the marriage is bona fide.
- Stop-Time Rule
The rule in INA 240A(d)(1) that the period of continuous residence or presence needed for cancellation of removal stops accruing when a valid Notice to Appear is served or a disqualifying offense is committed. A notice missing the hearing time and place does not stop the clock.
- Sua Sponte
Latin for on its own motion. The Board or an immigration judge may reopen a case sua sponte at any time under 8 CFR 1003.2(a), outside the 90-day limit, but the power is reserved for exceptional situations and a refusal to use it is largely beyond review in federal court.
- T Visa
Nonimmigrant status for a victim of a severe form of human trafficking who is in the United States because of it and has complied with reasonable requests from law enforcement, or is under 18. It is requested on Form I-914, lasts four years and leads to a green card after three.
- Temporary Protected Status
A designation under INA 244 that lets nationals of a country suffering armed conflict, disaster or extraordinary conditions stay and work in the United States for the designation period. Since 2025 most designations have been terminated, and litigation decides which remain in force.
- Three- and Ten-Year Bars
The grounds of inadmissibility in INA 212(a)(9)(B) for a person who departs after more than 180 days of unlawful presence, for three years, or after a year or more, for ten. The bars are triggered by leaving, and since August 2026 a trip on advance parole counts as leaving.
- Travel Ban
A presidential proclamation under INA 212(f) suspending entry for nationals of listed countries. Proclamation 10998, in force since January 1, 2026, fully bars 19 countries and partially bars 20 more, and USCIS holds pending applications from those nationals.
- U Visa
Nonimmigrant status for a victim of a qualifying crime who suffered substantial harm and helped law enforcement, requested on Form I-918 with a certification. Only 10,000 are granted a year, the wait runs to many years, and a bona fide determination can bring a work permit sooner.
- U Visa Bona Fide Determination
USCIS's initial review of a pending U visa petition, in place since 2021, finding that the petition is complete and the petitioner poses no risk. A positive determination brings deferred action and a work permit during the years-long wait for one of the 10,000 annual visas.
- U Visa Certification
Form I-918, Supplement B, signed by a police department, prosecutor, judge or other certifying agency, confirming that the applicant was a victim of a qualifying crime and was, is or is likely to be helpful. Without it a U visa petition cannot be filed.
- Unlawful Presence
Time in the United States after the authorized stay ends, or after entry without inspection, counted from age 18 for the bars in INA 212(a)(9). It is distinct from being out of status; a pending timely application and certain other periods do not count.
- USCIS
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the DHS agency that decides petitions and applications for visas, green cards, work permits, asylum and naturalization. It is funded mainly by filing fees, and since 2025 it also issues Notices to Appear on most denials.
- USCIS Online Account
The account at my.uscis.gov through which applicants file eligible forms, receive notices, respond to requests for evidence and pay the annual asylum fee. It is also where USCIS now delivers parole termination and work permit revocation notices.
- USCIS Policy Manual
The agency's centralized statement of how officers apply immigration law, organized in volumes by benefit type and updated by policy alerts. It binds USCIS staff, not courts, and most of the 2025 and 2026 changes in adjudication were made by rewriting it rather than by regulation.
- VAWA Self-Petition
A petition on Form I-360 by the abused spouse, child or parent of a citizen or permanent resident, filed without the abuser's knowledge or participation. Approval leads to a green card, and the self-petitioner is exempt from several adjustment bars and the public charge ground.
- Visa
A stamp or foil placed in a passport by a U.S. consulate abroad authorizing travel to a port of entry to seek admission in a class. It is not itself permission to enter or to stay; the period of stay is set on admission and recorded on Form I-94.
- Visa Bulletin
The State Department's monthly chart of cut-off dates for each preference category and country, with a final action chart and a dates-for-filing chart. A preference applicant may proceed only when their priority date is earlier than the applicable cut-off.
- Visa Waiver Program
The program under INA 217 that lets nationals of about 40 countries visit for up to 90 days without a visa after ESTA approval. Entrants waive the right to contest removal except through asylum, and they generally cannot change or extend status.
- Voluntary Departure
Permission under INA 240B to leave the United States at one's own expense within a set period, up to 120 days before a hearing or 60 after, instead of being ordered removed. It avoids the removal bars, but failing to leave on time brings a fine and a ten-year bar on relief.
- Waiver of Inadmissibility
A discretionary decision excusing a ground of inadmissibility so a visa or green card can issue, usually requiring extreme hardship to a citizen or resident relative. Most are requested on Form I-601 for $1,050; unlawful presence can be waived in advance on Form I-601A.
- Withholding of Removal
Protection under INA 241(b)(3) for a person more likely than not to be persecuted on a protected ground if returned, granted by an immigration judge. It bars removal to that country only, confers no status or path to a green card, and is not subject to the one-year deadline.