This is a work in progress....
[Okay, about time we had an FAQ!
General plan is:
It's a sticky at the top of our forum.
If you want to contribute to our body of knowledge, just post a reply on this thread and I'll cut and paste it into this post so it's not all spread out.
All contributions, however small, will be credited at the bottom of the thread.]
Immigration
Abbreviations
CIMT - crime involving moral turpitude
CBP - Customs and Border Protection
DCF - direct consular filing
DV - diversity visa
GC - green card
IV - immigrant visa
NIV - non-immigrant visa
NIW - national interest waiver
POE - port of entry
PR - permanent resident/residency
UKC - UK citizen
USC - US citizen
USCIS - United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
VWP - visa waiver program
Overview
Visiting
VWP B-1/2
ESTA
Immigrant visas
Family sponsorship
US citizens may sponsor: spouse, fiancée, parents, sons and daughters, and siblings. The last two categories will involve a substantial wait.
Permanent residents may sponsor: spouses, children, and unmarried sons and daughters. All categories involve a substantial wait.
Diversity visa
Diversity Immigrant Visa Program makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually, drawn from random selection among all entries to persons who meet strict eligibility requirements from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
Eligibility depends on place of birth, not citizenship, but you can claim the birth place of your spouse or, in some limited case, that of your parents.
Excluded countries for 2010 are: BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.
Official entry site is:
Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery and entry in the lottery is free.
EB-5
Non-immigrant visas
Family sponsorship
Non-immigrant visas
F-1 and J-1 visas
Practicalities
Driving License
Licenses are issued by state governments, and requirements and rules vary. You can find information by Googling for 'statename drivers license' and choosing the site that ends with '.gov'
You can drive on your home country license, as long as it has a picture, for a limited time after arrival. Each state will have a time limit for how long you can live there without getting a new license. This applies to us, too, when we move from state to state. Validity varies. Florida licenses are good for seven years, some states make you renew every year.
Bank Account
You are not required to have a Social Security Number in order to open a bank account; however, once you receive one you will be asked to provide the number to the bank.
Schools
Social Security Number
if you are ineligible to receive a Social Security number, you may open certain interest-bearing accounts that enable you to obtain an ITIN (Individual Tax Identification Number) which, for most intents and purposes, functions the same as an SSN
You are not required to provide your SSN to any private company that requests it (such as cell phone companies, cable companies, etc); however, they reserve the right to not do business with you if you do refuse to provide it.
Do not apply for the SSN until you have been lawfully in the US for at least 10 days. Your information takes approximately this long to trickle from the Port of Entry (
POE) to the national systems such as Social Security. If you apply before the Social Security Administration can see your information on their screen, your application will likely be set aside and might take months to receive the card. If you wait ten days after arrival, your information should be visible in their system and you will receive the card between 2-6 weeks.
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Credits:
Tiffani,
synthia