Terms for Immigration Documents- High School

These terms describe the formal documents through which people from other countries gain permission to enter or remain in the United States.

• Immigration: The process of permanently relocating from one's country of origin to settle, work, and establish long-term residency in a foreign nation.

• Immigration status: The legal standing of a non-citizen under federal regulations (e.g., B-2 tourist, F-1 student, or LPR). This status dictates an individual's legal boundaries, such as employment authorization and duration of permitted stay.

• Visa / Nonimmigrant visa: A legal document issued by a U.S. consular officer at an embassy or consulate abroad, stamped inside a passport. It indicates that the applicant is eligible to travel to a U.S. Port of Entry and formally request admission from a border officer for a specific purpose.

• Green card / lawful permanent resident card: The official document issued to Lawful Permanent Residents as physical proof of their right to reside, travel freely, and secure employment across the United States indefinitely.

• B-2 nonimmigrant visa (tourist): A temporary, nonimmigrant visa category reserved for foreign nationals entering the United States for recreational purposes, tourism, visits with friends or family, or specific medical treatments.

• F non-immigrant visa (student): A temporary visa category that permits foreign citizens to enter the United States as full-time students at an accredited university, college, high school, or intensive English language program.

• H-1B nonimmigrant visa (temporary employment): A highly regulated temporary work visa that permits U.S. businesses to employ foreign professionals in "specialty occupations" requiring highly specialized knowledge and at least a bachelor's degree (e.g., technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine).

• H-4 nonimmigrant visa: A dependent visa category issued exclusively to the immediate family members (spouse and unmarried children under 21) of a primary H-1B visa holder, allowing them to accompany the worker in the United States.

• TN NAFTA visa: A specialized, expedited nonimmigrant classification created under free trade agreements (originally NAFTA, now USMCA) that allows qualified Canadian and Mexican citizens to engage in professional-level business activities in the U.S.

• Diversity visa lottery: A congressionally mandated program administered annually by the Department of State. It makes up to 55,000 permanent resident visas available via a randomized computer drawing to individuals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.

• Derivative status: An immigration mechanism whereby a spouse or minor child acquires the exact same visa classification or permanent residency benefits as the primary applicant, preventing the forced separation of nuclear families during the application process.

• EB-1A:  an employment-based first-preference visa for individuals with "extraordinary ability" in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics.