Kavitha K., an Indian citizen, has accepted a research position at a U.S. university. To work in the U.S., she must obtain a nonimmigrant H-1B visa. This involves completing paperwork, providing documents like her passport, and interviewing at the U.S. Embassy. If approved, she will receive a visa and travel to the U.S., where she will be inspected at the border. As an H-1B visa holder, Kavitha can work for her sponsoring employer but must maintain her nonimmigrant status. In the future, she may seek permanent residence and citizenship through processes like employer sponsorship or marriage to a U.S. citizen.

1. The U.S. immigration
system has two primary
components that we willdiscuss
later in their own chapters:
Nonimmigrant Visas –
These are your options to visit & stay in
the U.S. temporarily; and
Immigrant / Green Cards –
These are pathways to Permanent
Residence, the green card
that eventually leads
to citizenship.
Kavitha K. is a citizen of
India and currently lives in
Mumbai. She has a
degree in biochemistry
and recently finished a
promising research
program. Based on her
achievements, she has
been offered a spot in a
research program at a
well-known U.S. university.
Kavitha accepts the
position and the
university’s International
Student Office informs her
that she will need to obtain
an H-1B visa before she
travels to the U.S.
Kavitha learns that to
obtain her temporary work
visa, she must complete
several documents,
provide other personal
documents such as her
passport, and then make
an appointment at the
nearest U.S. Embassy.
The school sends their
side of the paperwork, and
Kavitha schedules an
appointment online. She
then interviews for the
visa. The Consular Officer
will approve her visa later,
after they complete the
necessary background
checks and paperwork.
Kavitha will then receive a
printed visa in her
passport.
After the Department of
State approves her H-1B
student visa application,
Kavitha will travel to the
U.S. and upon exiting the
plane, she will be
inspected by a U.S.
Customs and Border
Protection officer before
being admitted to the U.S.
in H-1B nonimmigrant
status.
Now that Kavitha is in the
U.S., “all” that she has to
do is maintain her
nonimmigrant status. This
means she can (and
should!) do everything that
her visa permits. In her
case, she can work for the
university that sponsors
her, travel, and even
study. She cannot do
anything that is not
permitted – e.g., she
cannot work for another
employer without first
getting permission from
USCIS; she cannot stay
beyond the time noted on
her visa; and, she cannot
stay if she leaves her
research program for any
reason.
In order to become a U.S.
citizen, Kavitha will need to
be sponsored for Permanent
Residence. Her nonimmigrant
visa sponsor (the university
employer) can sponsor her
through a labor certification
process, which may take
anywhere from a few
months to several years. If
Kavitha fell madly in love
with a fellow scientist, and
he was a U.S. citizen, she
could apply based on their
marriage also. At the end of
that process, she would
become a Permanent
Resident and receive a green
card. This is discussed more
in the section on immigrant
visas. At this point, Kavitha
is not a citizen; she must live
in the U.S. and maintain
good moral character until
she is eligible to apply for
citizenship, through a process
called naturalization.
After meeting any
outstanding requirements
– an interview, any
necessary waiting periods
(Kavitha will have to wait 5
years) – Kavitha can apply
to naturalize and become
a U.S. citizen. At the
naturalization interview,
she will take the U.S.
citizenship tests (an
English test and a civics
test). She will then take an
oath, and receive her
naturalization certificate.
She can then apply for her
U.S. passport as well.
VisaInterview2 Travel&
Inspection3Sponsor1
How do you go from“foreign national”to“U.S. citizen”?
It takes just a couple of steps
Most foreign nationals will begin their visit to the U.S. as a nonimmigrant, and work their way towards a green card (Permanent Residence). A typical
journey through U.S. immigration looks something like this:
START HERE!
As you can see,
the immigration process
involves many steps spread
out over a bit of time.
TIP: Generally, you must
have a purpose for coming to
the U.S., such as tourism, education,
or work. There is one nonimmigrant visa
that matches to each purpose. Common visas
include the B visa for tourists; the H-1B visa for
professional employment; the F-1 visa for those
students studying at an American university;
L visas for business executives and managers;
and J-1 visas for exchange students and medical
professionals. These are some of the many visas
in the“alphabet soup”of nonimmigrant
visas; visas range from the A classes
to the V classes. We will touch on
each of the common visa types
in the Nonimmigrant
Visa section.
GreenCard 5Naturalization
&Citizenship
3Maintaining
ofStatus
6
11 2 3 4 5 6
STEPONESPONSOR
STEPTWOVISAINTERVIEW
STEPTHREETRAVEL&INSPECTION
STEPFOURMAINTENANCEOFSTATUS
STEPFIVEGREENCARD
STEPFOURNATURALIZATION&CITIZENSHIP
@coming2_america www.comingtoamerica.org