An immigrant visa grants the privilege of living and working permanently in the United States. A nonimmigrant visa is issued to persons with permanent residence outside the U.S. but who wish to be in the U.S. on a temporary basis, for example, tourism, medical treatment, business, temporary work, or study.

To become a legal permanent resident (or green card holder), you must first be admitted as an immigrant. The most common methods for obtaining an immigrant visa are: 1) through family relationship with a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident, or 2) through employment.

A person may become a U.S. citizen (1) by birth or (2) through naturalization. Naturalization is the way immigrants become citizens of the United States. In most cases, you must be an immigrant (permanent resident) with continuous residence in the U.S. for a number of years before you may apply for naturalization. If you were born in the United States (including, in most cases, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), you are a U.S. citizen at birth (unless you were born to a foreign diplomat). Your birth certificate is proof of your citizenship. If you were born abroad to a U.S. citizen parent, you may also be a citizen at birth.

Basic requirements include: a passport, passport photographs, birth and police certificates, marriage, divorce, or death certificates, proof of financial support, and medical examination.

The priority date, in the case of a relative immigrant visa petition, is the date the petition was filed. In the case of an employer-sponsored petition, the priority date is the date the labor certification was filed with the Department of Labor. The State Department Visa Bulletin is a monthly publication that gives the changes in availability of priority dates.

Access the Visa Bulletin online, by email, by telephone, by fax, or by mail.

Online: http://travel.state.gov/visa_bulletin.html
Email: VISABULLET@SA1WPOA.US-STATE.GOV (you may contact the Bulletin by email, but it is not distributed by email)
Telephone: (202) 663-1541, for a 24-hour recording that gives the monthly priority dates that are currently being processed. The recording is updated in the middle of each month with information on cut-off dates for the following month.
Fax: From your fax, dial (202) 647-3000. Follow the prompts and enter code 1038 to have the Visa Bulletin faxed to you.
Mail: To be placed on the Visa Bulletin mailing list (or to change an address), write to:
Only addresses within the U.S. postal system may be placed on the mailing list. When reporting changes or corrections of address, include a recent mailing label. The Postal Service does NOT automatically notify the Visa Office of address changes. (Obtaining the Visa Bulletin by mail is a much slower option than any of the alternatives mentioned above.)