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Glossary of Immigration and
Naturalization Terms
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Safe Haven: Temporary refuge given to
migrants who have fled their countries of origin
to seek protection or relief from persecution or
other hardships, until they can return to their
countries safely or, if necessary until they can
obtain permanent relief from the conditions they
fled.
Service Centers: Four offices
established to handle the filing, data entry,
and adjudication of certain applications for
immigration services and benefits.
Special Agricultural Workers (SAW):
Aliens who performed labor in perishable
agricultural commodities for a specified period
of time and were admitted for temporary and then
permanent residence under a provision of the
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Up
to 350,000 aliens who worked at least 90 days in
each of the 3 years preceding May 1, 1986 were
eligible for Group I temporary resident status.
Eligible aliens who qualified under this
requirement but applied after the 350,000 limit
was met and aliens who performed labor in
perishable agricultural commodities for at least
90 days during the year ending May 1, 1986 were
eligible for Group II temporary resident status.
Adjustment to permanent resident status is
essentially automatic for both groups; however,
aliens in Group I were eligible on December 1,
1989 and those in Group II were eligible one
year later on December 1, 1990.
Special Immigrants: Certain categories
of immigrants who were exempt from numerical
limitation before fiscal year 1992 and subject
to limitation under the employment-based fourth
preference beginning in 1992; persons who lost
citizenship by marriage; persons who lost
citizenship by serving in foreign armed forces;
ministers of religion and other religious
workers, their spouses and children; certain
employees and former employees of the U.S.
Government abroad, their spouses and children;
Panama Canal Act immigrants; certain foreign
medical school graduates, their spouses and
children; certain retired employees of
international organizations, their spouses and
children; juvenile court dependents; and certain
aliens serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, their
spouses and children.
Special Naturalization Provisions:
Provisions covering special classes of persons
whom may be naturalized even though they do not
meet all the general requirements for
naturalization. Such special provisions allow:
1) wives or husbands of U.S. citizens to file
for naturalization after three years of lawful
permanent residence instead of the prescribed
five years; 2) a surviving spouse of a U.S.
citizen who served in the armed forces to file
his or her naturalization application in any
district instead of where he/she resides; and 3)
children of U.S. citizen parents to be
naturalized without meeting certain requirements
or taking the oath, if too young to understand
the meaning. Other classes of persons who may
qualify for special consideration are former
U.S. citizens, servicemen, seamen, and employees
of organizations promoting U.S. interests
abroad.
Sponsor: The term "sponsor" in the
immigration sense, often means to bring to the
United States or "petition for".
Stateless: Having no nationality.
Stowaway: An alien coming to the
United States surreptitiously on an airplane or
vessel without legal status of admission. Such
an alien is subject to denial of formal
admission and return to the point of embarkation
by the transportation carrier.
Student: As a non-immigrant class of
admission, an alien coming temporarily to the
United States to pursue a full course of study
in an approved program in either an academic
(college, university, seminary, conservatory,
academic high school, elementary school, other
institution, or language training program) or a
vocational or other recognized nonacademic
institution.
Subject to the Numerical Limit:
Categories of legal immigrants subject to annual
limits under the provisions of the flexible
numerical limit of 675,000 set by the
Immigration Act of 1990. The largest categories
are: family-sponsored preferences;
employment-based preferences; and diversity
immigrants.
Sub-offices: Offices found in some
Districts that serve a portion of the District’s
jurisdiction. A sub-office, headed by an
Officer-in-Charge, provides many services and
enforcement functions. Their locations are
determined, in part, to increase convenience to
INS’ customers. | 
