Part of our Immigration Law FAQ. This cluster covers the green-card numerical system — who waits, who does not, and why — and four definitions from INA § 101 that decide cases. Every answer was written against the current text of the statute.
The green-card numerical system
Who are “immediate relatives,” and why is that the best category?
The children, spouses, and parents of a U.S. citizen — for parents, the citizen must be at least 21. INA § 201(b)(2)(A)(i). Immediate relatives are exempt from the annual numerical limits, so there is no waiting line for a visa number — the case moves as fast as processing allows. The statute also protects widows and widowers: the spouse of a citizen who dies remains an immediate relative if a petition is filed within two years of the death.
What are the family preference categories?
Everyone else in family immigration waits in a numbered line. INA § 203(a): F1 — unmarried sons and daughters (21 or older) of citizens, capped at 23,400 per year; F2 — spouses, children, and unmarried sons and daughters of green card holders, capped at 114,200; F3 — married sons and daughters of citizens, 23,400; F4 — brothers and sisters of citizens (the citizen must be at least 21), 65,000. Unused numbers cascade between categories by formula.
How many green cards exist per year overall?
The worldwide family-sponsored level is built on a statutory formula anchored at 480,000, minus immediate-relative and certain other numbers, with a floor for the preference categories. INA § 201(c). The employment-based level is 140,000 plus certain unused family numbers from the prior year. INA § 201(d).
Why do applicants from India, China, Mexico, and the Philippines wait so much longer?
Because no single country’s natives may use more than 7 percent of the family and employment preference numbers in a year (2 percent for dependent areas). INA § 202(a)(2). High-demand countries hit that ceiling immediately, so their lines stretch — in some categories by decades. The per-country cap, not processing speed, is the engine of the backlog.
What is a priority date?
Your place in the visa line — generally the date the petition was properly filed (for labor-certification cases, the date the labor certification was filed with DOL). Preference cases are issued visas in the order of their priority dates, INA § 203(e), and each month the State Department’s Visa Bulletin announces which dates have become “current.” See how to read the Visa Bulletin.
What are the employment-based (EB) categories?
Five preferences share the employment-based level. INA § 203(b). EB-1 priority workers (extraordinary ability, outstanding researchers, multinational executives) and EB-2 (advanced-degree professionals and exceptional ability, including the national interest waiver) each receive up to 28.6 percent of the worldwide level; EB-3 (skilled workers and professionals), EB-4 (special immigrants), and EB-5 (investors) take the remaining shares. Our NIW, EB-5, and H-1B pages cover the main routes in depth.
Do my spouse and children get green cards with me?
In the preference categories, yes — a spouse and unmarried children under 21 who are “accompanying or following to join” receive the same classification and order as the principal. INA § 203(d). Immediate-relative cases have no derivatives: each family member needs their own petition.
Four definitions that decide cases
What is “good moral character”?
A statutory gate for naturalization and several other benefits. INA § 101(f) lists people who cannot establish it during the required period — habitual drunkards, those with certain criminal grounds described in INA § 212(a), income derived principally from illegal gambling, multiple gambling convictions, and more — and the statute closes by saying the list is not exhaustive: a person outside those classes may still be found to lack good moral character for other reasons. That open end is where USCIS discretion lives, and current policy exercises it assertively — see the discussion on our naturalization page.
Who is a “refugee” under the statute?
A person outside their country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return because of persecution, or a well-founded fear of persecution, on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. INA § 101(a)(42). The same definition powers asylum for people already in the United States, INA § 208 — explained on our asylum page.
What is an “aggravated felony,” and why is it so feared?
A long statutory list — murder, rape, sexual abuse of a minor, drug trafficking, firearms trafficking, money laundering over $10,000, and many more offenses. INA § 101(a)(43). The label applies whether the conviction was federal, state, or foreign (if the sentence was completed within the previous 15 years), and the name misleads: qualification turns on the statutory definition, not on whether the crime sounds “aggravated” or was even labeled a felony. The consequences are among the harshest in the law — deportability, permanent bars to good moral character, and disqualification from most relief — which is why any criminal record needs analysis before any filing.
What is a “special immigrant”?
A set of categories Congress placed in INA § 101(a)(27) and funneled into the EB-4 preference — including permanent residents returning from a temporary visit abroad, former citizens seeking to reacquire status, and ministers and religious workers with at least two years of membership in a qualifying denomination, among others such as special immigrant juveniles and certain U.S.-government employees abroad.
Next: family petitions and the adjudication process (INA §§ 204–205), refugees and asylum (§§ 207–208). These FAQs are general information, not legal advice.