Glossary of Immigration Terms

• Some ex-employees of the Panama Canal Company or Canal Zone Government, their spouses and accompanying children.
• Some previous employees of the U.S. Government in the Panama Canal Zone who are Panamanian nationals, their spouses and children.
• Some previous of the Panama Canal Company or Canal Zone Government on April 1, 1979, their spouses and children. The Act provides for admission of a maximum of 15,000 immigrants, at a rate of no more than 5,000 each year.

Panel Physician
An overseas Doctor who is appointed by a local U.S. Embassy or Consulate to offer medical exams as required by the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) and USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services). Medical examinations that are not administrated by a Panel Physician will not be accepted by USCIS.

Parolee
A parolee is a foreigner who appears to be inadmissible to the inspecting officer; however, he/she is permitted to enter the United States for urgent humanitarian reasons or when that foreigner’s admittance is deemed to be of an important public benefit. Parole is not an official right of entry to the United States and grants temporary status only, which require parolees to leave when the conditions supporting their parole stop to exist.

Passport
A document that is issued by the government of the country of your citizenship. Passports have expiry dates, and while you travel in the U.S. your passport must remain valid throughout the entire duration of your stay.

Per-Country Limit
The number limits of family-sponsored and employment-based preference visas that can be issued to citizens of any country in a fiscal year.

Permanent Resident
Any person who is not a citizen of the United States and who lives in the U.S. under lawfully recognized and legally recorded permanent residence as an immigrant. It is also called Permanent Resident Alien, Resident Alien Permit Holder, and Green Card Holder.

Petition
A generic word used to describe the forms used by the USCIS to determine eligibility for different visa categories.

Port of Entry
Any location in the United States or its territories where foreigners and U.S. citizens alike can enter the United States such as airports and border crossings.

Practical Training
A work program designed to let foreign students work in the United States after of during their university degree.

Pre-Inspection
The process of inspecting airport passengers before departing from foreign countries to the United States. The United States immigration does not require inspection upon arrival, however.

Preference System (Immigration Act of 1990)
The nine classes under which the family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant preference visas are granted as of 1992.

• The family-sponsored preferences are:
  1. Unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
  2. Spouses, children, and unmarried sons and daughters of permanent resident aliens
  3. Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
  4. Brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens.
  
• The employment-based preferences are:
  5. Investors
  6. Priority workers or those individuals that possess extraordinary abilities
  7. Professionals with advanced degrees or foreigners with exceptional ability
  8. Skilled workers, professionals without advanced degrees, and needed unskilled workers
  9. Special immigrants

Prevailing Wage
This is the wage that is provided by the Employment Development Department (EDD) after the sponsoring company has submitted a Prevailing Wage Determination Request.

Principal Alien
It is the foreigner who submits an application for immigrant status and from whom another foreigner may get lawful status under immigration law or regulations such as spouses and children. The principal is the primary person applying as opposed to dependent. Example; TN is a principal classification, and TD is the dependent classification.

Priority Date
This term refers to the date a petition is filed during a USCIS Immigrant visa application process. If the foreigner 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.

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