Immigration Terms and Definitions

Country of Citizenship
The country in which a person is born (and has not renounced or lost citizenship) or naturalized and to which that person owes allegiance and by which he or she is entitled to be protected.

Overseas parole
Authorized at an USCIS District or suboffice while the alien is still overseas; designed to constitute long-term admission to the United States. In recent years, most of the aliens USCIS has processed through overseas parole have arrived under special legislation or international migration agreements.

Nonimmigrant temporary worker classes O-1, O-2, O-3
Temporary workers with extraordinary ability or achievement in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics; those entering solely for the purpose of accompanying and assisting such workers; and their spouses and children

Priority Date
In the USCIS Immigrant visa petition application process, the priority date is the date the petition was filed. If the alien relative has a priority date on or before the date listed in the visa bulletin, then he or she is currently eligible for a visa.

Files Control Office
An USCIS field office--either a district (including USCIS overseas offices) or a suboffice of that district--where alien case files are maintained and controlled.

Nonimmigrant temporary worker classes P-1, P-2, P-3, P-4
Athletes and entertainers at an internationally recognized level of performance; artists and entertainers under a reciprocal exchange program; artists and entertainers under a program that is "culturally unique"; and their spouses and children

Asylee
An alien in the United States or at a port of entry who is found to be unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality, or to seek the protection of that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution.

Immigration Form I-212
Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the U.S. After Deportation or Removal

Apprehension
The arrest of a removable alien by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Each apprehension of the same alien in a fiscal year is counted separately.

Board of Immigration Appeals
The Board of Immigration Appeals, commonly referred to as the BIA, issues appellate administrative decisions that are binding on the DHS Bureaus responsible for enforcing immigration laws nationwide.