Not all United States visas are created equal. And when it comes to relocating to the U.S., citizens of countries with a high volume of immigrants must wait a great deal longer than others.

Immigrant visas are designated for individuals who wish to relocate permanently to the United States, and depending on your personal and professional circumstances, they can be very difficult to obtain. Over 4 million foreign citizens are currently waiting for the opportunity to move permanently to the U.S. with a green card.

U.S. Visa Wait Times for Foreign Workers

Employment-based immigrant visa petitions will commonly take less time than family-based visas for a number of reasons. There are far fewer employment-based applications due to low government caps, and the work-based visa application process requires the applicant and his or her United States employer to provide an immense and exceptionally detailed amount of information before proceeding.

The U.S. has five major types of employment-based green cards: EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, EB-4 and EB-5. Their wait times depend on the applicant's country or origin and priority level. Currently the EB-2 visa (2^nd priority employment-based green card) and the EB-3 visa (3^rd priority employment-based green card) have applicants waiting to be processed since as far back as 2003. In contrast, the EB-1 visas (1^st priority) are "current" which means that USCIS will begin to process those applications as soon as they are received.

U.S Visa Wait Times for Family Members

Like employment-based visas, family visas or green card petitions are segmented into different priority levels. Applicants with U.S. citizen family petitioners will have priority over those with family members who only have green cards.

The different types of family-sponsored visa categories are roughly as follows:

• F1: The unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
• F2: The spouses and children of Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs or green card holders)
• F2A: Spouses and Children of LPRs
• F2B: Unmarried Adult Children of LPRs
• F3: Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
• F4: Brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens

According to the most recent visa bulletin from the U.S. State Department, there is currently no backlog for the F2A category, a rare occasion that we detailed in a previous blog post. Potential applicants from other categories must wait a notoriously long time. For example, the F4 category has individuals waiting for their turn to apply since 1990. Mexican applicants in the F1 category (children of U.S. citizens) are still waiting from as far back as 1993 for their visa to be processed.

Visa Wait Times by Country of Origin

U.S. immigration policy limits the yearly amount of green cards granted to citizens of a specific country, which mean that high-volume immigration countries like India, China, Mexico, and the Philippines endure the worst of the U.S. visa wait times. With the passage of comprehensive immigration reform, immigration experts and attorneys are hopeful that some of these wait times will be minimized so that the United States can more realistically accommodate the American businesses and individuals seeking a new life in the United States.