E-1: FIRST PRIORITY WORKERS

The First Priority Workers are those who get the EB1 visa and they can be in three groups:

1. Outstanding professors and researchers who are recognized internationally
2. Persons with extraordinary abilities in arts, sciences, business, education, or athletics
3. Multinational managers of executive who have worked overseas for at least one out of the past three years for a U.S branch, subsidiary, or parent company.

IR-1, CR-1: SPOUSE OF A U.S CITIZEN

The first category is the marriage visas. These visas are given to those who are legally married to a citizen of the U.S. Merely living together does not count as being married, so you will have to prove marriage by documents.There are two types of spouse visas:

1. Conditional Resident (CR-1) Visa – means that you have just been married and for 2 years you will maintain conditional status. This is to prevent marriages from happening only for obtaining permanent residence in the U.S.
2. Immediate Relative (IR-1) Visa – after you have been married for 2 years, you will gain permanent status without the conditions of the CR-1 visa.

E-2: SECOND PRIORITY WORKERS – PROFESSIONALS HOLDING ADVANCED DEGREES AND PERSONS OF EXCEPTIONAL ABILITY

This category of employees includes two groups:

1. Professionals holding an advanced degree, who either have a Bachelor’s Degree and five years of work experience in that profession, or have completed a higher education degree beyond their Bachelor’s Degree.
2. Persons with exceptional abilities in arts, sciences, or business.

K-1: FIANCÉ(E) TO MARRY U.S CITIZEN AND LIVE IN THE U.S

The K-1 visa is given to a person engaged to a U.S citizen to go to the U.S for 90 days. During those 90 days, the couple is expected to be married so as to start filing for the petition to get a spouse visa.

E-3, EW-3: THIRD PRIORITY WORKERS – PROFESSIONALS AND OTHER WORKERS

The third priority workers include these groups:

1. Skilled workers who have at least two years of experience or training in that particular profession and who are not seasonal or temporary.
2. Professional workers who need at least a Bachelor’s Degree or a U.S equivalent to work in their profession.
3. Unskilled workers who do not need at least two years of experience or training to work in a particular position.

K-2: CHILDREN OF K-1 VISA HOLDER

The K-2 visa is given to unmarried children under 21 years old of K-1 visa holders, so the U.S citizen’s fiancé(e).

S VISA: FOURTH PRIORITY WORKERS – CERTAIN SPECIAL IMMIGRANTS

Fourth priority workers include a variety of visas, such as:

1. Religious workers (SD visa and SR visa)
2. Broadcasters in the U.S
3. Current or Former employees of the U.S government
4. Iraqi employees of the U.S government (SQ visa)
5. Afghan employees of the U.S government (SQ visa)
6. Iraqi and Afghan Interpreters or Translators (SI visa)
7. Certain Foreign Medical Graduates
8. Certain family members of International Organization Employees (spouses and unmarried children), etc

K-3: SPOUSE OF A U.S CITIZEN AWAITING APPROVAL OF AN I-130 IMMIGRANT PETITION

This visa has been created to shorten the time that the married couple is away from each other while one of them is waiting for their petition to be approved. When a foreign citizen and a U.S citizen are married, they file the petition to get a spouse visa. While this petition is being processed, the spouse can obtain a K-3 visa so as to be able to live in the U.S.

C-5, T-5, R-5, I-5: FIFTH PRIORITY WORKERS – EMPLOYMENT CREATION AND INVESTORS

The last group of the employment based visas is targeted at investors, who invest:

1. At least $1,000,000
2. $500,000 in a high unemployment or rural area in the U.S. Based on this, there are four types of investor immigrant visas:
3. C-5 visa for investors who create jobs outside of target areas
4. T-5 visas for investors who create jobs in targeted rural or high unemployment areas
5. R-5 visa for investors who participate in an Investor Pilot Program not in a target area
6. I-5 visa for investors who participate in an Investor Pilot Program in a targeted area.

K-4: CHILDREN OF K-3 VISA HOLDER

This visa is intended to be given to unmarried children under 21 years old of K-3 visa holders, so the children of the spouse of a U.S citizen.