Immigration Overview

Illinois Immigration Law Attorney

It is common to come to the United States to be with your family, for employment or school, or for other reasons. At the law office of Ana M. Mencini & Associates, P.C., we are compassionate, understanding, and experienced. We will help you through the challenging immigration process.

Contact us to speak with an immigration lawyer.

If you wish to come to the United States, you must first decide your intent. Do you want to come to the United States temporarily or permanently? Your answer to this question will determine whether you should file for a nonimmigrant visa or an immigrant visa.

Nonimmigrant Visas

If you plan to come to the United States temporarily, but plan to return to your home country, you must file for a nonimmigrant visa. Although there are many forms of nonimmigrant visas, the most common nonimmigrant visas are:

• Nonimmigrant visas: visas for people who plan to visit family members in the United States, study in the United States, or temporarily visit the United States, but who plan to return home after a short time.
• Nonimmigrant employment visas: work visas for people coming to the United States for a short time period for employment purposes, such as a tradeshow, conference, or meeting, or for a temporary work assignment.

Immigrant Visas

If you plan to come to the United States permanently, you must file for an immigrant visa (to lead to the eventual acquisition of legal permanent residency often referred to as obtaining one's "green card"). In most cases, you cannot file for a nonimmigrant visa and then file for an immigrant visa. Common immigrant visas include:

• Immigrant family visas: people who are citizens and legal permanent residents of the United States are able to petition for a visa for family members to come to the United States permanently.
• Immigrant employment visas: employers are able to petition for people to come to the United States for a specific job.
• Diversity lottery visas: Each year citizens from countries with low immigration to the United States are able to submit, via an online application, a request to be included in the Diversity lottery. Applications are taken in the Fall from citizens of those countries deemed eligible. Other requirements are that the person applying must have a high school-equivalent degree or have two years of work experience. In the Spring of the following year, those selected are notified and may then apply for legal permanent residency in the United States.

Contact Us

Immigration attorney Ana M. Mencini gives professional, compassionate, personal assistance through the immigration and naturalization process. Talk with our lawyers about your immigration needs by contacting our Itasca law office today.