Glossary

• Library: U.S. Immigration Made Easy (Nolo) (2023 Ed.)

Glossary

Immigration law is full of words and terms whose meanings are not obvious. We've used many of these words in this book and you might encounter others as you use additional resources. For help in unpacking their meanings, see the plain-English definitions below.

Accompanying relative. In most cases, a person who is eligible to receive some type of visa or green card can also obtain green cards or similar visas for immediate family members who will be immigrating or coming to the U.S. at the same time or soon after. These family members are called accompanying relatives and may include only a spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21.

Advance Parole. Advance Parole may be granted to a person who is already in the U.S., but needs to leave temporarily and return without getting a visa or risking cancellation of their application while they're gone. This is common when someone has a green card (adjustment of status) application in process and wants to leave the U.S. for a trip.

Alien Registration Receipt Card. A name sometimes used in immigration law for a green card. USCIS currently calls this document the I-551.

Asylum status. See also Refugee and asylee, below. Although the basis for eligibility is very similar, people apply for refugee status only from outside the U.S., while potential asylees apply for asylum after having arrived in the United States (for example, on a tourist visa or after illegally crossing the U.S. border).

Attestation. Sworn statements that employers must make to the U.S. Department of Labor before they may petition to bring foreign workers to the U.S. on certain types of employment-based visas.

Beneficiary. If a relative or employer files a petition to start off your immigration process, you are a beneficiary. Almost all green cards as well as certain types of nonimmigrant visas require the process to be initiated by U.S. petitioners, and whenever there is a petitioner there is also a beneficiary. The word "beneficiary" comes from the fact that the foreign national benefits from the petition by becoming qualified to apply for a green card or visa.

Citizen (U.S.). A person who owes allegiance to the U.S. government, is entitled to its protection, and enjoys the highest level of rights due to members of U.S. society. People become U.S. citizens through birth in the U.S. or its territories, through parents who are U.S. citizens, or through naturalization (after spending time as lawful permanent residents then applying for citizenship and passing the exam). Citizens cannot have their status taken away except for certain extraordinary reasons.

Conditional resident. Someone who is on the way to permanent residence, but must go through a two-year testing period first. This affects only spouses of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents whose marriage was less than two years old at the time they were approved for U.S. residence; and investor visa (EB-5) recipients.

Consular processing. The green card application process for immigrants whose final interview and visa decision will happen at a U.S. embassy or consulate in another country (outside the U.S.).

Consulate. An office of the U.S. Department of State located in a country other than the United States and affiliated with a U.S. embassy in that country's capital city. The consulate's responsibilities usually include processing visa applications.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP). An agency that, like USCIS, is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Its primary functions include keeping the borders secure from illegal crossers and meeting legal entrants at airports and border posts to check their visas and to decide whether they should be allowed into the United States.

DACA. See Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, below.

Deferred action. A temporary status in which the U.S. government agrees to hold off placing a person in, or continuing with removal (deportation) proceedings or enforcement. May be accompanied by the right to apply for a work permit.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Under an executive directive issued June 15, 2012, USCIS could consider (as a matter of discretion) granting deferred action status to foreign-born persons brought to the U.S. before the age of 16. (See Chapter 16.) The Trump administration tried to cancel the program and various lawsuits followed, which have continued under the Biden administration despite its efforts to bring it back. Only renewals of DACA status were allowed at the time this book was published.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS). A huge government agency created in 2003 to handle immigration and other security-related issues. Nearly all...