Overview of Special Immigrant, Humanitarian, and Special Legislation Categories

01

EB-4 Special Immigrants

USCIS lists the following in its “Special Immigrants” grouping: religious workers, special immigrant juveniles, Afghan or Iraqi translators and qualifying individuals who worked for the U.S. government, international broadcasters, and international organization or NATO-6 employees and their family members, among others. The EB-4 page also lists U.S. armed forces members, Panama Canal employees, certain physicians, and S nonimmigrants, among others.

02

Humanitarian Categories: T, U, and VAWA

Human trafficking victims (currently holding T nonimmigrant visas) and crime victims (currently holding U nonimmigrant visas) fall into separate groupings on the categories page. VAWA self-petitioning applies to spouses and children of U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and parents of U.S. citizens, who have been subjected to battery or extreme cruelty. None of these are EB-4.

03

Special Legislation and Other Categories

“Other Categories” include Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness (LRIF, requiring continuous physical presence in the United States since November 20, 2014), the Cuban Adjustment Act, and diversity visas, among others; the Cuban Adjustment Act and HRIFA also contain provisions for abused spouses and children. The Cuban Adjustment Act is one of the categories that do not require an underlying immigrant petition.

These categories each have their own legal bases and deadlines. For the candidate codes within these categories, this website displays only content checked against sources and does not expand their scope of applicability.