Glossary

VISA glossary

168 definitions · page 3 of 3.

Proselytizing: Attempting to convert (change) a person from one religious faith to another.
Public Charge: Refers to becoming dependent upon the government for the expenses of living (food, shelter, clothing, etc.) An applicant is ineligible for a visa if he/she will be a public charge.
Qualifying date: The date which the Visa Office of the Department of State uses to determine when to send the Instruction Package (formerly Packet 3) to an immigrant visa applicant. The Instruction Package tells the applicant what documents need to be prepared for the…
Rank Order Number: The number that Kentucky Consular Center gives to the entries of DV Program (lottery) as the computer selects them. The first entries chosen have the lowest numbers. The Visa Office of the Department of State gives winning entries a chance to apply for…
Re-entry Permit: A travel document that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issues to lawful permanent residents (LPRs) who want to stay outside of the U.S. for more than one year and less than two years. LPRs who cannot get a passport from their country of nationality…
Receipt Notice: A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) form Notice of Action, I-797, which says that the DHS has received a petition.
Refugee: A person who has a well-founded fear of persecution if he/she should return to his/her home country. He/she applies to come to the United States in another country and enters the United States as a refugee.
Retrogression: Sometimes a case that is current one month will not be current the next month. This occurs when the annual numerical limit has been reached. This usually happens near the end of a fiscal year (October 1 to September 30 of the next year). When the new fiscal…
Returning Residents: Lawful permanent residents who want to return to the United States after staying abroad more than one year or beyond the expiration of their re-entry permits.
Revalidation of a Visa: Renewal of a visa.
Revocation of a Visa: Cancellation of a visa. The visa is no longer good (valid) for travel to the United States.
SAW: See Special Agricultural Worker glossary definition.
Schedule "A" Occupations: The Department of Labor (DOL) has given the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authority to approve labor certifications for these occupations. These occupations are physical therapists, professional nurses and people of exceptional ability in the…
Schedule A Occupations: The Department of Labor (DOL) has given the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authority to approve labor certifications for these occupations. These occupations are physical therapists, professional nurses and people of exceptional ability in the…
Second Preference: A category of family immigration (F2) for spouses, children and unmarried sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents.
Sect: A religious group or community.
Section 213A: A section of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) which establishes that sponsors have a legal duty to support immigrants they want to bring (sponsor) to the United States. They must complete Form I-864 Affidavit of Support. If a sponsor (petitioner)…
Sibling: Brother or sister.
Son daughter: In immigration law a child becomes a son or daughter when he/she turns 21 or marries. A son or daughter must have once met the definition of a child in immigration law.
Special Agricultural Worker: farm workers in perishable products who worked for a specified period of time and were able to adjust status to lawful permanent resident according to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.
Special Immigrant: A special category of immigrant visas for persons who lost their citizenship by marriage; persons who lost citizenship by serving in foreign armed forces; certain foreign medical school graduates; Panama Canal immigrants; and certain others.
Sponsor: 1) A person who fills out and submits an immigration visa petition. Another name for sponsor is petitioner, OR 2) a person who completes an affidavit of support (I-864) for an immigrant visa applicant.
Sponsored Immigrant: An immigrant who has had an affidavit of support filed for him/her.
Spouse: Legally married husband or wife. A co-habiting partner does not qualify as a spouse for immigration purposes. A common-law husband or wife may or may not qualify as a spouse for immigration purposes, depending on the laws of the country where the…
State: One of the 50 States of the United States, for example, the State of California.
State Workforce Agency: The agency or bureau in each State that deals with employment and labor issues.
Status: Condition under the visa law.
Stepchild: A spouse’s child from a previous marriage or other relationship. In order for a stepchild to be able to immigrate as a “child,” the marriage creating the stepchild/stepparent relationship must have happened before the stepchild was 18 years of age.
Surviving Parent: A child’s living parent when the child’s other parent is dead, and the living parent has not remarried.
SWA: State Workforce Agency
Tax-exempt: A condition of the law in which an organization or people in some kinds of work do not have to pay taxes which regular citizens or businesses must pay. Religious organizations are often tax-exempt.
Temporary Worker: A foreign worker who will work in the United States for a limited period of time. Some visas classes for temporary workers are H, L, O, P, Q and R.
Termination of a Case: Suppose an immigrant visa applicant does not answer an embassy or consulate's correspondence with him/her or attempt to process his/her immigrant visa case required documents. The embassy or consulate (post) will begin to close (terminate) the case. The post…
Third Country National: Someone who is not an American and not a citizen of the country where he/she currently is. Suppose you are a Kenyan visiting Mexico. If you apply for a visa to visit the United States while you are in Mexico, we will consider you a third country national. Or…
Third Preference: A category of family immigration (F3) for married sons and daughters of American citizens and their spouses and children. Before 1992 this was known as fourth preference (P-4).
Troubled Business: A business that has been in existence for at least two years and has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the past 12 to 24 months.
Turning twenty-one: In the United States a person turns twenty-one when he/she completes his twenty-first year. For example, if you were born on January 15, 1980 you turned 21 on January 15, 2001. You did not become 21 when you began the twenty-first year of your life.
Upgrade a petition: If you naturalize (become an American citizen) you may ask the INS to change the petitions you filed for family members when you were a lawful permanent resident (LPR) from one category to another. This is called upgrading. For example, a petition for a…
VA: Department of Veterans Affairs.
Visa: Visa in immigration law refers to the written certification that an international travel document bears indicating that the document has been examined and is correct.
Visa: A permit for a person to apply to enter the United States. A person applies for a visa in the consular section of an American embassy or consulate abroad. Most citizens of foreign countries need visas to enter the United States. Under U.S. law the Department…
Visa Expiration Date: The visa expiration date is shown on the visa. Depending on the alien’s nationality, visas can be issued for any number of entries, from as little as one entry to as many as multiple (unlimited) entries, for the same purpose of travel. This generally means…
Visa Numbers: Congress establishes the amount of immigration each year. Immigration in certain categories, such as immediate relatives, is unlimited, but preference categories are limited. To distribute the visas fairly among all categories of immigration the Visa Office…
Visa Validity: This generally means the visa is valid, or can be used from the date it is issued until the date it expires, for travel for the same purpose for visas, when the visa is issued for multiple entry. The visa expiration date is shown on the visa. Depending on…
Visa Waiver Program (VWP): Allows citizens of certain participating countries, meeting the Visa Waiver Program requirements to enter the United States as visitors for pleasure or business without first getting a visa. Visitors can stay only 90 days and can not extend their stay.
Voluntary Service Program: an organized project that a religious or nonprofit charitable organization does to provide help to the poor or needy or to further a religious or charitable cause. Participants may be eligible for B visas.
VWP: See Visa Waiver Program.
Waiver of Ineligibility: In immigration law certain foreign nationals are ineligible for visas to enter the United States for medical, criminal, security or other conditions and activities. Some applicants for visas are able to apply for permission to enter the United States despite…