Immigrant Visa Requirements

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Immigrating to the Untied States is an important decision that requires much time and effort. The first step towards immigrating is obtaining an Immigrant Visa from the U.S. Department of State. In order to obtain this Visa, the foreign applicant must usually be sponsored by a U.S. citizen or prospective employer. The applicant and sponsor need to file a petition with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and upon approval, the petition is forwarded no the National Visa Center (NVC) for processing. The NVC then provides instructions to the applicant and sponsor, who must follow up by providing an Affidavit of Support (which proves the applicant will have adequate financial support in the U.S.), fees, and other required documents. Once everything is approved, the State Department issues the Visa and the NVC sets a date for immigration.

Before approving any Visa applications, the State Department and NVC must check that the applicant does not break any of the rules for eligibility. One of the major factors for ineligibility is health; petitioners are denied if they have a communicable disease that might infect Americans, or if they have a physical or mental disorder that poses threats to property, safety, or the welfare of Americans. Applicants convicted of crimes are also generally barred because this raises suspicion of moral turpitude. Similar to crime is the category of terrorism; any applicants involved in terrorist activities or suspected of supporting terrorism in any way are denied so as to prevent any such activities against America. Applicants are also denied if they are expected to add to the public charge; if age, health, family status, assets & reserves or other factors indicate that applicants will add to the burden of America’s welfare system, they are denied.

In some cases, denied applicants are able to make an appeal. In addition, the U.S. Attorney General and Secretary of State do have the power to waive eligibility requirements in certain cases. In 2008 alone, 194,648 of 334,268 ineligibilities were overcome. Although the requirements to immigrate to the U.S. are certainly strict, they are founded in the best interests of this country, and it allows those who immigrate to do so effectively.