United States visa

The visa policy of the United States deals with the requirements which a foreign national wishing to enter the United States must meet to obtain a visa, which is a permit to travel to, enter, and remain in the United States. Visitors to the United States must obtain a visa from one of the United States diplomatic missions unless they come from one of the visa exempt countries or Visa Waiver Program countries. The same rules apply to Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands while different rules apply to Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.

The United States gives a visitor visa exemption to:

Under a new Executive Order, citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen would be unable to apply for U.S. visas from March 16, 2017 unless they qualify for a waiver. Holders of valid visas, however, would no longer be banned from entering or returning to the United States. The Executive Order is blocked by Federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland just hours before its implementation.

United States visas were issued to 8.9 million foreign nationals visiting the United States and to 482,000 immigrants in 2012. A foreign national wishing to enter the U.S. must obtain a visa unless he or she is

Mexican citizens may travel to the U.S. without a passport under limited circumstances if holding a Border Crossing Card and seeking to enter the U.S. for less than 72 hours while remaining in the "border zone".

While there are about 185 different types of visas, there are two main categories of U.S. visas:

In order to immigrate, one should either have an immigrant visa or have a dual intent visa, which is one that is compatible with making a concurrent application for permanent resident status, or having an intention to apply for permanent residence.

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