What are the immigration visa types in the U.S.?

The U.S. primarily offers family and employment immigrant visas. U.S. law doesn’t limit how many family-based immediate relative visas the U.S. issues each year However, it does limit how many of the other family and employment visas it issues—per year and per country. Noncitizens may also qualify for humanitarian statuses, the diversity lottery or special limited categories.

How many immigrant visas are issued each year in the U.S.?

Each year, the U.S. issues up to 226,000 family preference visas, 140,000 employment visas and 55,000 diversity visas. The U.S. often doubles these 426,000 visas through uncapped IR visas and other categories.

Which country gets the most U.S. visas?

Mexico receives the most U.S. immigrant visas, with India and China next.

Breakdown of U.S. immigrant visa categories

What's Inside

Bottom line

Key Takeaways:

Noncitizens may qualify for an immigrant visa based on family, employment, humanitarian concerns or special circumstances.
To get a U.S. visa, you must qualify for a specific category, not be disqualified and navigate a multi-step application process.
Limits to how many visas the U.S. may issue per year have caused (and continue to cause) delays in visas being issued. These delays may last years or decades.

For centuries, the United States has been known as a—or the—destination for immigrants hoping to make a new life for themselves. The U.S. offers immigrant visas—a.k.a. green cards—based on family, employment, humanitarian protections and limited other categories. There’s no way for someone to get in line for a visa—you either legally qualify for a visa, or you don’t. And even when you do, you sometimes have to wait years or decades for a green card.

This article explores a breakdown of U.S. immigrant visa categories and how to immigrate to the United States. It also addresses how processing delays and statutory limitations strain the immigration system and can cause frustrations for applicants.

What’s an immigrant visa?

The U.S. issues two broad visa types: immigrant and nonimmigrant visas. The basic difference between an immigrant visa vs a nonimmigrant visa is how long they last.

Immigrant visas grant a noncitizen lawful permanent resident (LPR) status, allowing them to work and live in the U.S. indefinitely.
Nonimmigrant visas are temporary. Your legal status generally ends when the visa expires.

What are the immigration visa types?

The U.S. primarily issues visas based on family and employment. Several other narrow categories and humanitarian statuses may also lead to green cards.

Pro-tip: If someone doesn’t fit into any of the categories described below, they aren’t eligible for a green card under current law. Some people may remain in the U.S. and work under programs like Temporary Protected Status (TPS), but non-green card programs generally don’t offer permanent status.

Family-based visas

Family-based immigrant visas include immediate relative (IR) and family preference visas. A subcategory, the conditional resident (CR) visa, temporarily limits the validity period of an IR visa to two years.

Visa	Sponsor	Beneficiary
IR	U.S. citizen	Spouse, parent or unmarried child under 21
CR	U.S. citizen	Spouse (if married two years or less when visa is issued)
F1	U.S. citizen	Unmarried children age 21 and older
F2A	LPR	Spouses and unmarried children under 21
F2B	LPR	Unmarried children age 21 or older
F3	U.S. citizen	Married children
F4	U.S. citizen	Siblings

Generally, a relative must sponsor a family-based visa, with limited exceptions detailed below.

Exception	Who qualifies	Requirements
Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)	Noncitizen battered or subjected to extreme cruelty by U.S. citizen or LPR spouse, former spouse, child or parent	Would qualify for an IR or F2A visa
Widow(er)s	Noncitizen married to a U.S. citizen or LPR when they died	Qualified for a spouse visa when spouse was alive
Dependents	Dependents (“derivatives”) of the principal beneficiary (the person the application is on behalf of, who receives a visa at the end of the process)	Principal beneficiary qualifies
Fiancé visas	Foreign fiancé of a U.S. citizen	Marry within 90 days and convert to a spouse visa

Most immigrant visas allow the primary beneficiary to bring derivatives—their spouse and unmarried children under 21—to the U.S. IR visas don’t.

Pro-tip:

Derivatives may accompany the principal applicant or come to the U.S. later. When derivatives come to the U.S. later, they submit follow-to-join applications.

As a derivative, you get your own green card. Once you have that card, your status is no longer tied to the principal applicant. For example, you may remain in the U.S. even if the principal gets deported.

Employment-based visas

The U.S. offers the five categories of employment-based (EB) immigrant visas below, which vary by whether they require:

The Department of Labor (DOL)’s certification
An employer sponsor
A job offer

Visa	Beneficiary	Sponsor	Employment requirements
EB-1	Noncitizens with extraordinary ability	Self	None
Outstanding professors and researchers, some multinational managers or executives	Employer	Job offer
EB-2	Noncitizens with advanced degrees or exceptional ability	Employer	Job offer, labor certification
National Interest Waiver (NIW) recipients	Self	None
EB-3	Skilled workers, professionals, other (unskilled) workers	Employer	Job offer, labor certification
EB-4	Special Immigrant Juveniles (SIJ), retirees of certain international organizations, members of the U.S. armed forces and certain Afghan and Iraqi nationals	Self	None
Religious workers and certain broadcasters	Employer	Job offer
Criminal informants (S-visa)	Law enforcement	None
EB-5	Immigrant investors	Self	None

Pro-tip:

The SIJ visa is a unique option for unaccompanied minors to get a green card. A noncitizen may qualify if they are:

Currently in the U.S.
Unmarried and under 21
Currently or previously under the jurisdiction of a juvenile court
One or both parents abandoned, abused or neglected them
Remaining in the U.S. is in their best interests

When you become an LPR through SIJ status, you may never sponsor either of your parents for a green card.

Humanitarian visas

Most humanitarian grounds don’t quite fit with the other immigrant visa categories. Humanitarian visas include:

Asylum and refugee status
Crime victim U-visa
Human trafficking T-visa

You apply outside the U.S. for refugee status and inside the U.S. for asylum. A noncitizen may qualify for asylum or refugee status if, in their home country, they were persecuted or fear persecution due to their actual or imputed:

Race
Religion
Nationality
Political opinion
Membership in a particular social group

The crime and trafficking visas typically require the applicant to cooperate with law enforcement.

Other visas

Finally, noncitizens may receive an immigrant visa is through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program if they come from a country with historically low immigration levels. To apply, a noncitizen submits an entry to the “green card lottery”.

If you don’t win the green card lottery or fit any of the other above categories, you may qualify for an immigrant visa if you’re:

A Cuban native or citizen or derivative
An American Indian born in Canada who primarily resides in the U.S.
A child born in the U.S. to a foreign diplomat
A foreign diplomat in the U.S. who can’t return home

Finally, you may register for a green card if you have lived in the U.S. continuously since January 1, 1972.

Pro-tip: Some minor visa categories have lost or are rapidly losing applicability in 2024. For example:

Lautenberg parolee status hasn’t been current since 2011.
Visas based on the Indochinese Parole Adjustment Act date back to parole granted in 1997.
Visas related to the Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act (HRIFA) date back to a 1998 law.
The Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF) applies only to Liberians who lived in the U.S. in 2014.

Visa ineligibility

You may be ineligible for a visa if you’re “inadmissible” or “deportable” because you:

Create a risk to public health or national security
Have been convicted of certain crimes
Are likely to depend on the U.S. government to survive
Have violated U.S. immigration law in the past

You may receive a waiver of some of these issues depending on the severity of the conduct.

Numerical limits on visas

Limitations on the number of family and employment preference visas that may be issued each year haven’t been updated since their creation, despite the passage of time and the global population growth from 1965 to 2023—from 3.33 billion to 8.09 billion people. These limitations are set by U.S. law, and only Congress can change them.

Family- and employment-based limitations

The U.S. issues up to 226,000 family-preference and approximately 140,000 employment-based visas each year. No more than 7 percent of these may go to nationals of any one country. Because of these cutoffs, a substantial immigrant visa backlog exists, especially for countries with large populations or historically high immigration levels like China, India, Mexico and the Philippines.

Each month, the State Department publishes a Visa Bulletin detailing the depth of the U.S. immigrant visa backlog. In August 2024, noncitizens who applied on the following dates received their green cards:

Visa	Date of application	Country-specific delays
F1	October 22, 2015	Mexico: May 8, 2002Philippines: March 1, 2012
F2A	November 15, 2021	Mexico: February 1, 2021
F2B	May 1, 2016	Mexico: July 15, 2004Philippines: October 22, 2011
F3	April 1, 2010	Mexico: March 1, 2000Philippines: September 8, 2002
F4	August 1, 2007	Mexico: February 8, 2001Philippines: February 1, 2004India: January 22, 2006
EB-1	No delay	China: November 1, 2022India: February 1, 2022
EB-2	March 15, 2023	China: March 1, 2020India: July 15, 2012
EB-3	December 1, 2021	China: September 1, 2020China (“other workers” category): January 1, 2017India (all EB-3s): October 22, 2012Mexico (“other workers” category): January 1, 2021Philippines (“other workers” category): May 1, 2020
EB-4	January 1, 2021	N/A
EB-5	No delay	China (unreserved categories): December 15, 2015India (unreserved categories): December 1, 2020

Pro-tip:

To read the Visa Bulletin, you need to know your priority date. You may find it on the I-797 Notice of Action you receive after submitting your application to USCIS.

Humanitarian limitations

Green cards issued due to humanitarian concerns aren’t subject to the same limitations. However, the government has the power to limit these visas too. For example, the U.S. admitted significantly fewer refugees under Donald Trump than other recent presidents.

Diversity visa limitations

The U.S. issues up to 55,000 diversity visas per year via the “green card lottery”. The country-by-country distribution depends on the previous year’s distribution.

Immigrant visa application process

You generally request an immigrant visa from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) through the below steps:

Sponsor submits an immigrant visa petition and supporting documents
Beneficiary applies for a green card
Sponsor and beneficiary provide further documents and information
Beneficiary attends a visa interview
Government approves or denies green card application
If approved, the government issues the green card

After you submit your visa petition to USCIS, you receive a receipt notice with a received date—that’s your priority date. The notice also identifies your immigrant visa case number and alien registration number or A-number.

Applying for an immigrant visa

Navigating the U.S. immigration system comes with many challenges. Many noncitizens benefit from consulting with an immigration lawyer, who can help you identify what visa you may qualify for and then guide you through the application process.

Sources

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-for-immediate-relatives-of-us-citizen

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-for-family-preference-immigrants

https://www.uscis.gov/humanitarian/abused-spouses-children-and-parents

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/widower

https://www.uscis.gov/family/family-of-us-citizens/visas-for-fiancees-of-us-citizens

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/programs/permanent

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-first-preference-eb-1

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-second-preference-eb-2

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-third-preference-eb-3

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-fourth-preference-eb-4

https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-US/eb4/SIJ