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Visa Information


IMMIGRANT VISA SERVICES

Immigrant Visa Categories

An immigrant visa is required of anyone who wishes to enter the United States to reside there permanently, whether or not that person plans to seek employment in the United States. There are four general categories:

Immediate Relatives

Please note, you must be 21 year old or over to file a IV petition for a family member. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws and cousins cannot sponsor a relative for immigration. For additional information about each category of visa, please visit the Visa Office website or the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) web site.

  • IR1/CR1 ・Spouses of U.S. citizens
  • IR2 ・Minor children (under 21) of U.S. citizens
  • IR3 ・Adoptive children of U.S. citizens
  • IR4 ・Children to be adopted in the U.S. by U.S. citizens
  • IR5 ・parent of a U.S. citizens
  • IW ・Spouse of a Deceased United States Citizen
  • K1 ・Fiance(e) of a U.S. citizen
  • K3 ・Certain spouses and minor children of U.S. Citizens
  • V1 ・Certain spouses and children of legalpermanent residents

    • Family-based immigrant visas

    Please note, you must be 21 year old or over to file a IV petition for a family member. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws and cousins cannot sponsor a relative for immigration. There is a annual quota for visas in each of these categories. Please select IV Priority Dates to see how long the wait is for a visa in any of these categories. For additional information about each category of visa, please visit the Visa Office website or the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) web site.

  • F1 ・the unmarried adult son or daughter of U.S. citizens
  • F2A ・the spouses and minor children of legal permanent residents
  • F2B ・unmarried sons and daughters of legal permanent resident
  • F3 ・married children of U.S. citizens
  • F4 ・siblings of U.S. citizens

    • Employment-based immigrant visas

    A sponsoring employer in the U.S. must file the petition and demonstrate that there are no workers in the U.S. who can perform the work and that the applicant has the necessary training and experience. Please select IV Priority Dates to see how long the wait is for a visa in any of these categories. For additional information about each category of visa, please visit the Visa Office website or the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) web site.

  • E1 ・Priority workers
  • E2 ・Professionals holding advanced degrees
  • E3 ・Skilled workers
  • E4 ・Certain special immigrants
  • E5 ・Investors
  • SD/SR ・Certain religious workers and family

    • Diversity Visa Program
    Frequently Asked Questions

    The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State to provide for a new class of immigrants known as diversity immigrants (DV immigrants). 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

    The annual DV program makes permanent residence visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. Applicants for Diversity Visas are chosen by a computer-generated random lottery drawing. The visas, however, are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to citizens of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the past five years. Within each region, no one country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.

    For more information on Diversity visas and how to enter the lottery, please visit the Visa Office web site.

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