Immigrant Visa Categories

U.S. immigration law provides for the issuance of Immigrant Visas (IV) in four general categories:

*The purpose of immediate relative and family-based immigration is to re-unite family members in the United States. If the United States citizen does not plan to live in the United States, he/she cannot request a visa for other family members.

NOTE: Grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, and cousins cannot sponsor an immigrant visa petition.

For more detailed information about all immigrant visa categories, please visit travel.state.gov.

Immediate Relatives

The following immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are eligible to apply for immigration in the immediate relative (IR) categories and are not subject to numerical limitations under U.S. immigration law:

• Spouse of a U.S. Citizen*
• Minor Child of a U.S. Citizen (only if the U.S. citizen parent was not able to transmit citizenship at the time of the child's birth)
• Minor Step-Child of a U.S. Citizen (only if the marriage that created the step-child relationship occured before the child's 18th birthday)
• Parent of U.S. Citizen (the U.S. citizen must be over the age of 21)
• Step-Parent of a U.S. Citizen (only if the marriage that created the step-parent relationship occured before the step-child's 18th birthday)

*American citizens can also file to bring their fiancé(e)s to the U.S. to marry and live.  For more information on this type of visa (K-1), which is based on an immigrant-type petition but has some elements of a non-immigrant visa, please click here. 

Family-Preference

The following relatives of U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) are eligible to apply for immigration but are subject to numerical limitations under U.S. immigration law:

• Unmarried Son or Daughter (over the age of 21) of a U.S. Citizen
• Spouse of an LPR*
• Minor Child of an LPR*
• Unmarried Son or Daughter of an LPR
• Married Son or Daughter of a U.S. Citizen
• Brother or Sister of a U.S. Citizen (the U.S. Citizen must be over the age of 21)

*Spouses and minor children of LPRs whose petitions were filed on or before December 21, 2000 may be eligible for non-immigrant V visas.  Please click here for more information.

Employment

In general, a specific offer of employment from a U.S. based employer is required to qualify for immigration in the employment based categories.  Please visit travel.state.gov for more information about employment based immigration.

Diversity IV Program

An annual diversity immigration program makes available 55,000 immigrant visas each year by random selection to people from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. Eligibility to apply for this program is determined by a person's place of birth, not citizenship.  Persons born in Jamaica are not eligible to enter the Diversity Visa Lottery.