Safe Haven

• Temporary refuge given to migrants who have fled their countries of origin to seek protection or relief from persecution or other hardships, until they can return to their countries safely or, if necessary until they can obtain permanent relief from the conditions they fled.

Service Centers

• Four offices established to handle the filing, data entry, and adjudication of certain applications for immigration services and benefits. The applications are mailed to USCIS Service Centers -- Service Centers are not staffed to receive walk-in applications or questions.

Special Handling

• Special Handling cases are employer sponsored labor certification applications and are limited to teaching positions at qualified educational institutions. The main benefits of Special Handling cases are that the recruitment standards are much easier to comply with and the processing time is much shorter than regular LC cases or Reduction in Recruitment (RIR). For details of special handling petitions, please click http://www.hooyou.com/news/news040203Special%20Handling.htm.

Special Naturalization Provisions

• They are provisions covering special classes of persons whom may be naturalized even though they do not meet all the general requirements for naturalization. Such special provisions allow: 1) wives or husbands of U.S. citizens to file for naturalization after three years of lawful permanent residence instead of the prescribed five years; 2) a surviving spouse of a U.S. citizen who served in the armed forces to file his or her naturalization application in any district instead of where he/she resides; and 3) children of U.S. citizen parents to be naturalized without meeting certain requirements or taking the oath, if too young to understand the meaning. Other classes of persons who may qualify for special consideration are former U.S. citizens, servicemen, seamen, and employees of organizations promoting U.S. interests abroad.

Status

• When an alien holding a valid U.S. visa arrives at a U.S. port, the alien will be inspected by USCIS. If entry is permitted, USCIS will authorize the alien’s stay in the U.S. by giving either immigrant or a nonimmigrant status, depending on the alien’s visa category. Usually USCIS will issue nonimmigrant alien an I-94 card, or will place a permanent residency stamp on immigrant alien’s passport.

Stowaway

• It means an alien coming to the United States surreptitiously on an airplane or vessel without legal status of admission. Such an alien is subject to denial of formal admission and return to the point of embarkation by the transportation carrier.

Suboffices

• Offices found in some Districts that serve a portion of the District's jurisdiction. A Suboffice, headed by an Officer-in-Charge, provides many services and enforcement functions. Their locations are determined, in part, to increase convenience to USCIS?customers.

Subject to the Numerical Limit

• Categories of legal immigrants subject to annual limits under the provisions of the flexible numerical limit of 675,000 set by the Immigration Act of 1990. The largest categories are: family-sponsored preferences; employment-based preferences; and diversity immigrants.

Substantial Intrinsic Merit

• Substantial intrinsic merit is one requirement of Eb-2 employment-based immigration for National Interest Waiver (NIW) petition.In order to be eligible for an NIW petition, the alien must be able to demonstrate that, among other things, he is seeking work in an area of substantial intrinsic merit to the US.For details of NIW petitions, please click http://www.hooyou.com/niw/.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

• Establishes a legislative basis for allowing a group of persons temporary refuge in the United States. Under a provision of the Immigration Act of 1990, the Attorney General may designate nationals of a foreign state to be eligible for TPS with a finding that conditions in that country pose a danger to personal safety due to ongoing armed conflict or an environmental disaster. Grants of TPS are initially made for periods of 6 to 18 months and may be extended depending on the situation. Removal proceedings are suspended against aliens while they are in Temporary Protected Status.

Temporary Worker

• An alien coming to the United States to work for a temporary period of time. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the Immigration Act of 1990, as well as other legislation, revised existing classes and created new classes of nonimmigrant admission. Nonimmigrant temporary worker classes of admission are as follows:
  
  1. H-1A - registered nurses (valid from 10/1/1990 through 9/30/1995);
  2. H-1B - workers with "specialty occupations" admitted on the basis of professional education, skills, and/or equivalent experience;
  3. H-1C - registered nurses to work in areas with a shortage of health professionals under the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999;
  4. H-2A - temporary agricultural workers coming to the United States to perform agricultural services or labor of a temporary or seasonal nature when authorized workers are unavailable in the United States;
  5. H-2B - temporary non-agricultural workers coming to the United States to perform temporary services or labor if unemployed persons capable of performing the service or labor cannot be found in the United States;
  6. H-3 - aliens coming temporarily to the United States as trainees, other than to receive graduate medical education or training;
  7. O-1, O-2, O-3 - temporary workers with extraordinary ability or achievement in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics; those entering solely for the purpose of accompanying and assisting such workers; and their spouses and children;
  8. P-1, P-2, P-3, P-4 - athletes and entertainers at an internationally recognized level of performance; artists and entertainers under a reciprocal exchange program; artists and entertainers under a program that is "culturally unique"; and their spouses and children;
  9. Q-1, Q-2, Q-3 - participants in international cultural exchange programs; participants in the Irish Peace Process Cultural and Training Program; and spouses and children of Irish Peace Process participants;
  10. R-1, R-2 - temporary workers to perform work in religious occupations and their spouses and children.
      
      See other sections of this Glossary for definitions of Exchange Visitor, Intracompany Transferee, and U.S.-Canada or North American Free-Trade Agreement classes of nonimmigrant admissio

Ten-Year Bar

• Under the U.S. immigration law, an alien who has illegally stayed in the U.S. for more than 360 days would be barred from reentering the U.S. for 10 years. Section 245(i) of the LIFE Act, however, lifts the ten-year bar for qualified aliens who apply for adjustment of status and were physically present in the United States on or before December 21, 2000, and whose immigration petition or a labor certificate application is filed for the benefit of the Alien on or before April 30, 2001. For more information about ten-year bar and 245(i) requirements, please click http://www.hooyou.com/245i/requirements.html.

Third Country Visa

• A Third Country Visa refers to a visa application or visa obtained from a U.S. Consulate in a country other than the alien’s home country. Usually the U.S. Consulate is located in Canada or Mexico. For more information about third country visa, please click http://www.hooyou.com/thirdcountryvisa/tcv_faq.html.

Three-Year Bar

• Under the U.S. immigration law, an alien who has been illegally stayed in the U.S. for more than 180 days would be barred from reentering the U.S. for at least 3 years. Section 245(i) of the LIFE Act, however, lifts the three-year bar for qualified aliens who apply for adjustment of status and were physically present in the United States on or before December 21, 2000, and whose immigration petition or a labor certificate application is filed for the benefit of the Alien on or before April 30, 2001. For more information about three-year bar and 245(i) requirements, please click http://www.hooyou.com/245i/requirements.html.

Timely Filing

• An extension of status or change of status application must be filed within the period during which the alien is in an authorized nonimmigrant status, i.e., within and authorized period of admission. The failure to file timely may be excused by USCIS where the failure was due to “extraordinary circumstances” beyond the applicant’s control and the delay was commensurate with the circumstances, the applicant is a bona fide nonimmigrant not in removal proceedings and has not otherwise violated his or her nonimmigrant status. For more information about extension of or change to F status, please click http://www.hooyou.com/f-1/index.html. For more information about extension of or change to H status, please click http://www.hooyou.com/h-1b/index.html.

TN

• The TN category is special category created under NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) for qualifying professionals who are nationals of Canada or Mexico. Aliens qualified to enter the U.S. under this category may work for a company located in the U.S. for a temporary period. Moreover, they may also work for a Canadian or Mexican company in the U.S. when those companies are engaged in projects with U.S. based companies. The initial time limit for a TN professional to work in the U.S. is one year. However, this period may be renewed for a year to year increments indefinitely. For details of TN visa and status, please click http://www.hooyou.com/tn/index.html.

Transportation Letter:

• Transportation Letter can be issued in U.S. embassies and consulates for lawful permanent residents (green card holders) whose green cards are either lost or expired when they are overseas. It can also be issued for the child, who is born overseas, of an LPR mother. Transportation Letter can get the holders on the plane flying back to the U.S. without a green card or immigration visa.

Treaty Trader or Investor

• As a nonimmigrant class of admission, an alien coming to the United States, under the provisions of a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and the foreign state of such alien, to carry on substantial trade or to direct the operations of an enterprise in which he/she has invested a substantial amount of capital, and the alien's spouse and unmarried minor children.

TSC

• TSC stands for TexasServiceCenter. The USCIS Service Centers were established to handle the mail, file, data entry, and adjudication of most applications for immigration services and benefits. The TSC has jurisdiction over certain applications and petitions from individuals residing in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. For information about TSC please click http://uscis.gov/graphics/fieldoffices/texas/aboutus.htm.

Two-Year Residence Requirement for J-1

• Certain classes of J-1 "Exchange Visitors" require that the alien return to his/her home country or country of last permanent residency for a period of two (2) years after their J-1 status completion. Until this two-year foreign residency requirement has been fulfilled or waived, the alien would not be eligible for H or L status and cannot adjust to permanent residency status.For more information about the 2-year residence requirement for J-1, please click http://www.hooyou.com/j-1/j1_limitation.html. For more information about J-1 visa and status, please click http://www.hooyou.com/j-1/index.html. For more information, about J-1 waiver, please click http://www.hooyou.com/j-1/j1_waiver.html.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

If you can not find what you are looking for, please kindly click here for the search engine and search the articles on www.hooyou.com.

Adjustment of Status | Adoption | Advance Parole | Application Fees | Asylum & Removal | Business Entities | Corporate Clients | Consular Processing | Divorce | E-1 & E-2 | EAD | F-1 | Family Immigration | FAQs | Forms | Investor Visa | Immigration Glossary |
K Visa | L Visa | Marriage | Naturalization | Non-immigrant Visas | O-1 | Processing Time | Road to Green Card | TN | Visa Bulletin