If you want to immigrate to the United States, whether temporarily or permanently, you need to know your options. Job training, schooling, setting up a business, travelling -- any of these possibilities could get you the permission you need. With U.S. Immigration Made Easy, you can decide which immigration strategy makes the most sense for you. Learn how to qualify for visas, green cards and citizenship, how to fill out and file the necessary forms and how to present the strongest possible case to the Immigration & Naturalization Service. Written by immigration attorneys who have obtained visas and green cards for thousands of foreign nationals, this book reveals the inside information that the U.S. government doesn't provide. Thoroughly updated and revised, the 10th edition of U.S. Immigration Made Easy covers current topics, including tightened security and how it affects all visa and green card applicants, the "Child Status Protection Act," new requirements for J-I visa holders, new work-permit opportunities and much more. Book jacket.

Attorneys Laurence A. Canter and the late Martha S. Siegel have obtained visas and green cards for thousands of foreign nationals. They have handled every kind of case and know how to deal with the U.S. immigration system Ilona Bray is Nolo's immigration-law editor

How to Use This Book

U.S. Immigration Made Easy was developed to give you the help you need to be successful with the United States Immigration Service. Whether your aim is to live, work, invest, retire or study in the U.S., this book should assist you in reaching your goal and doing it legally. We will tell you about the different kinds of visas available and the qualifications you need to get each one. Then we will show you, step by step, how to prepare the paperwork for the visa you want. We will tell you how long it takes to get each visa and how to avoid common pitfalls. You will find out whether or not you have a realistic chance of immigrating to the U.S. We have also included some brief material on U.S. taxes for those with business interests or people who simply want to know the tax consequences of life in the U.S.

A. Basic Strategy for Immigration

Not everyone can immigrate to the U.S., but you can improve your chances by knowing the inside information on immigration. That's exactly what you'll find in this book. If you don't qualify to immigrate right now, we will examine the possibilities for your qualifying in the future. It isn't hopeless. There are things you can do. The key to winning at U.S. immigration is information, the information you'll find in these pages.

U.S. immigration laws may not be what the immigrant expects. Often these laws were written as much to keep immigrants out as they were to provide orderly procedures for letting them in. Immigration policies are not always logical or sensible. Many people from other nations who wish to live in the U.S. and could make wonderful contributions to the country are the very people kept from getting green cards or visas. More and more, U.S. immigration law is a controversial issue among Americans. Everyone agrees there must be some limits. No one agrees on how these limits should work.

One of the greatest changes brought about by the Immigration Act of 1990 was the major refocusing of U.S. immigration goals. Overall, the law has always favored immigrants who were family members of other recent U.S. immigrants. Now, some of the emphasis has shifted away from family relationships and toward job skills, education levels and other business-related qualifications.

Since 1990, there have been several procedural changes in the ways visas are processed. Also, the government has increased its emphasis on deportation, now called removal, particularly of criminal aliens. In the future, you can expect even more changes. However, the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 and the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) of 1996 brought many new changes to the immigration code, most of them restrictive. The information in this book is the latest available but it isn't written in stone. If you don't like the law the way it is, don't give up! Sooner or later, it will probably change.

Is it smart, then, just to wait until things get better? We don't think so. There's a lot you can do right now if you have all the facts. You'd be surprised at how few people do. We have written this book after spending many years working as immigration lawyers. A good deal of what appears here is in response to questions clients have asked us again and again. One lesson we learned over time is that often people fail at immigration because they just don't know enough about it. Information given out at U.S. consulates, embassies and the offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) isn't always complete. Most immigration officials lack the time to share all their knowledge with you. It is unlikely that they will be willing to sit down with you, examine your case and spend an hour or more helping you think of ways to qualify for a visa, as attorneys do when clients come to their office. In this book, you will find much more information than any consulate or INS office has the time to offer.

For the immigrant, an even greater danger than having too little information is having information that is wrong. Common sources of confusion are well-meaning friends and relatives as well as general rumormongers, all of whom are only too happy to share their ignorance with you. Of all the false information in circulation, the stories from those who claim to have gotten green cards or visas by ignoring the rules or using special influence are by far the most creative. Enjoy them for their entertainment value, but don't harm yourself by believing them.

In this book we have made the rules and procedures of immigration as clear and understandable as possible, but we have not stopped with the laws themselves. In immigration, knowing the rules and regulations isn't enough. You must also know how things really work. Here we tell you both the law as it is written and the way things actually happen in real life. They are not always the same.

1. Can You Cheat the System?

We've already mentioned briefly the stories in circulation about how some people have found shortcuts through the system, legal or illegal. We've been asked about cheating the system an endless number of times. Some people put it more politely than others, but the idea is always the same. Let's get it straight right now. If you know someone who insists he or she walked into a consulate and got a green card immediately just for the asking, or successfully bribed a U.S. immigration official, most likely that person has an overactive imagination. The hard fact is that shortcutting the American immigration system is close to impossible.

Moreover, while bribing public officials is generally tolerated in some countries, it is not in the U.S. We do not make this statement as any kind of moral judgment on other nations. We point it out simply as a cultural reality because, unfortunately, it has the effect of making immigrants from certain countries where bribery is a common practice believe the same tactic will work in the U.S. It won't. Any U.S. government employee found guilty of selling visas will be severely punished. While there have been reports of corruption within the INS, these occurrences are rare. The bottom line is immigration officials don't take bribes.

Another plan popular among those determined to bypass the system is asking for help from U.S. congressional representatives or senators. The offices of these officials are besieged with such requests. While a U.S. politician will always treat you courteously and may write a letter to the INS asking for a status report on your case, one thing he or she will not do is fight with the INS to get you a green card or visa. No matter how strong your political influence might be, no government official can get immigration benefits for someone who is not truly qualified, nor will he or she try to do so.

2. Can You Work the System?

Yes, you can work the system by knowing exactly how it operates. In our experience with thousands of immigrants from nearly every country in the world, we have seen that most people view their chances for successful immigration as either completely certain or totally impossible. One group believes that by filling out a few simple forms they will quickly and automatically be granted the right to do exactly as they please. They get angry and insulted when they find out the U.S. government isn't going to cooperate as quickly or as easily as they thought. The other group is made up of those who think the situation is hopeless. Usually they've based their conclusions on discussions with misinformed friends and relatives. The doomsayers and the optimists have one thing in common: They are both wrong.

Contrary to popular belief, immigration is much like any other area of the law. To prepare an immigration case, you must fit yourself into an eligibility category, gather evidence, make arguments and complete paperwork. The finished product is then considered by an INS or consular officer. The officer looks at the case and makes a decision based on his or her knowledge of the law and evaluation of the evidence. Each case is different. There are many variables in preparing a case and we'll tell you how to work the system for the best results.

3. Choosing a Category

Let's give away one of the biggest secrets of being successful at U.S. immigration right at the beginning. It's picking the visa category that's best for you. The cornerstone of the U.S. immigration system is a rigid group of visa categories. Each category carries with it a very specific list of requirements. Your job in trying to get any type of immigration benefit is, very simply, to prove that you fit into one of the categories. Much of this book is devoted to describing the categories and explaining how you can prove to the U.S. government that you do in fact fit into one of them.

There are no exceptions to the rule that you must meet the qualifications of some immigration category. If you cannot do so, you cannot get a green card or visa. You may find as you read on that you already fit into one or more qualifying categories. If not, you have the option of trying to change your situation so you do. It is you and not the categories that will have to change. Keep in mind, however, that it is often perfectly possible to arrange your life or your business so you become qualified for a category, even if you are not right now.

Even though the new law has to some extent introduced new practical considerations into the immigration process, the overall system still is not completely fair or logical in giving immigration benefits only to the most worthy. Many people become angry when they realize this. They cannot understand why decent, hardworking, financially stable people are sometimes unwanted by the U.S. government. As unreasonable as it may seem, the fact is that the INS has its rules and those rules are not very flexible. Once again, to put it simply, if you do not fit within a category, you will not get a green card or visa. Make it your business to know the categories. Do what you must to fit in. Then you will greatly improve your chances of being a success at immigration.

4. The Visa System

The visa system can be divided into two major classes. The first is the permanent class, officially called permanent residence. Those who become permanent residents of the U.S. are given cards called Alien Registration Receipt Cards. These are more popularly known as green cards. Because the term green card is familiar to so many, we will use it here most of the time instead of the technically proper name.

There are many ways to get a green card, but once you get one, all green cards are exactly alike. Each one carries the same privileges: namely, the right to work and live in the U.S. permanently. Green cards are available mostly to those who have immediate family members in the U.S. or job skills in demand by a U.S. employer. Also, a large number of green cards are given to educated professionals, investors and refugees, or on a lottery basis to those with very few qualifications other than luck.

The second broad class of visas is temporary. People wanting to enter the U.S. on a temporary basis receive what are known as nonimmigrant visas. Unlike green cards, nonimmigrant visas come in a variety of types with different privileges attached to each. Generally, they are issued for specific purposes, such as vacation, study or employment.

Besides the fact that green cards are permanent while nonimmigrant visas are temporary, the most significant difference between the two is that the number of green cards issued each year is limited by a quota in most categories, while the number of nonimmigrant visas issued in most categories is unrestricted. Green cards in certain categories can be obtained very quickly. In other categories, it can still take months or years to get one because of the quotas, and there is no way to speed up the wait. Nonimmigrant visas, however, can usually be obtained very quickly, sometimes on the same day you apply.

5. Timing

How long it takes to get a green card or visa is often affected by quotas. Most categories of green cards and a few nonimmigrant visa categories are affected by them. Sometimes quotas move quickly and are not a problem. At other times, quotas can mean waits of many years.

Quotas can slow down the process of getting green cards and visas, but they are not the only source of immigration delays. U.S. consulates and immigration offices, which are typically understaffed, often get behind on paperwork. Human error, yours or theirs, can also cause processing to drag on. Sometimes files become lost in the system and that means taking time to straighten out the confusion. It is impossible to say exactly how long any one case will take because there are so many factors that influence its progress.

In this book, we give our best estimates of how long it takes to get an approval in each green card and visa category. As you go through the application process, use our estimates as guidelines. Check up if something seems overdue, but don't be disappointed if you must wait. Patience and persistence are important in being successful at immigration.

B. How to Use U.S. Immigration Made Easy

Now that you know a little bit about the U.S. immigration system, you are ready to learn how to use this book effectively. There are six steps you must follow:

1. Learn the types of visas available.

2. Choose the one right for your needs.

3. Decide if you have the proper qualifications for the
visa you want.

4. If you do not qualify for the visa you want, think
about what changes you can make to become qualified.

5. If you still cannot qualify for your first choice,
consider what other visas are available and see if you
can qualify for one of them.

6. Apply for the visa you choose, using the directions in
this book, but always double-checking with your local
consulate or INS office to see whether there have been
changes or additions to the procedures, forms or fees.

Continue...

Excerpted from U.S. Immigration Made Easy by Laurence A. Canter Martha S. Siegel Copyright © 2002 by Martha S. Siegel and Laurence A. Canter
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Watch for Changes in the Law

These days, Congress and the INS change the immigration laws and procedures so regularly that it hardly makes the news. But one of these changes could have a major impact on your life. You can rely on this book up to the date it was published. After that, the thing to do is check the Nolo website at http://www.nolo.com for updates. Just scroll down to the last section of the home page, and click on Legal Updates. We'll do our best to let you know what's new and how it will affect you.