: Introduction
The U.S. is a free, democratic and open society. Citizens from around the world are welcome to visit, study, and do business in our country however, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there have been changes in US immigration laws. These changes were made to assist our government to better control visitor entry and exit.
The United States Government made a promise to protect the safety of our country’s citizens while balancing healthy tourist and legal immigrant policies. Our government will now require additional application forms and security clearances. Visa applications may take longer to process. Immediately after the changes, many applicants experienced delays in processing of their visas. Recently it seems as if there have been improvements in processing visa clearances.
The Two Types of Visa Classification:
Classification: Nonimmigrant Tier 2 Visas
Temporary in their nature, nonimmigrant visas apply to those who want to enter the USA for a specific yet temporary purpose such as a visit, study or work.
Classification: Immigrant Visas
Those who successfully apply and are granted an immigrant visa are provided with permanent residency status and are issued a “Green Card”
Which Classification is Right For Me?
When considering traveling to the USA, you should first pick the visa classification that best fits the purpose of your travel. For example; if you will be visiting the USA, then a temporary visitors visa would be your choice. Since temporary is regarded as nonimmigrant, you would select the nonimmigrant visa classification. If you are the spouse of a US Citizen, and you are moving to the USA to unite with your US Citizen husband or wife, then your intentions will be to stay indefinitely in the USA. The Immigrant Visa classification would be the more suited one for this purpose since the nature of your intentions are permanent and not temporary.
Each of the above classifications contains rigid visa categories. For each category there are specific eligibility requirements. The system will work best for you if you can figure out whether you qualify for the any of the eligibility requirements listed under a specific visa category.
Your first step is to identify the visa classification you will be pursuing, i.e.; Immigrant or Nonimmigrant. Once you identified the classification of the visa, you need to identify the category which will be most suited to your needs.
Proceed to >> Nonimmigrant Visas (Temporary Visas) or,
Proceed to >> Immigrant Visas (Permanent/Green Card)