The reunion of families, admitting immigrants with talents that are useful to the U.S. economy, safeguarding refugees, and fostering diversity are the guiding objectives of U.S. immigration law. This fact sheet describes the structure and operation of legal US immigration in Edmonton. The Immigration and Nationality Act is the federal statute that governs U.S. immigration policy (INA). The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) permits the United States to issue up to 675,00 permanent immigrant visas annually across several categories.

Immigration based on familial ties

Family unification is a fundamental tenet of U.S. immigration policy. The family-based immigration system permits U.S. citizens and LPRs to bring in specified family members. Immigrants with family ties are accepted either as direct relatives of U.S. citizens or under the family preference system. Annually, there is no restriction on the number of visas granted to direct relatives of U.S. citizens. In this category, prospective immigrants must fulfill ordinary eligibility conditions, and petitioners must meet age and financial restrictions. Immediate family members are:

• Wives of American citizens
• Minor children of U.S. citizens who are unmarried (under age 21); and
• Parents of United States citizens (petitioner must be at least 21 years old to petition for a parent).

Classes of Temporary Visas

Temporary visa categories based on employment allow firms to recruit and petition foreign nationals to fill specified occupations for short durations. Most temporary employees must work for the petitioning business and have restricted employment mobility. There are about 20 categories of visas for nonimmigrant temporary employees. These include L-1 visas for intracompany transfers, P visas for sports, entertainers, and talented performers, R-1 visas for religious workers, A visas for diplomatic staff, O-1 visas for workers with outstanding ability, and H visas for both highly skilled and less qualified workers.

Permanent Immigration

Based on employment, the annual numerical limit for US immigration in Edmonton is 140,000. This statistic includes immigrants as well as their wives and unmarried minor children. Therefore, the number of employment-based immigrants per year is fewer than 140,000. The number of visas available for distribution under the employment-based system is determined by adding new family preference immigrant numbers from the previous year to this limit. The remaining tickets are then separated into five priority groups.