Immigration Terms and Definitions

Immigration Form I-765
Application for Employment Authorization

Humanitarian parole
Authorized at USCIS headquarters or overseas District Offices for "urgent humanitarian reasons" specified in the law. It is used in cases of medical emergency and comparable situations.

Alien
Any person not a citizen or national of the United States.

Immigration Form I-687
Application for Status as a Temporary Resident Under Section 245A of the Immigration and Nationality Act

Immigration Form I-864A
Affidavit of Support Contract Between Sponsor and Household Member

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.

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.

Principal Alien
The alien who applies for immigrant status and from whom another alien may derive lawful status under immigration law or regulations (usually spouses and minor unmarried children).

Country of Nationality
The country of a person’s citizenship or country in which the person is deemed a national.

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.