Immigration Terms and Definitions

Immigration Form I-212
Application for Permission to Reapply for Admission into the U.S. After Deportation or Removal

Priority Date
In the USCIS Immigrant visa petition application process, the priority date is the date the petition was filed. If the alien relative has a priority date on or before the date listed in the visa bulletin, then he or she is currently eligible for a visa.

Apprehension
The arrest of a removable alien by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Each apprehension of the same alien in a fiscal year is counted separately.

Cancellation of Removal
A discretionary benefit adjusting an alien’s status from that of deportable alien to one lawfully admitted for permanent residence.

Principal Alien
The alien who applies for immigrant status and from whom another alien may derive lawful status under immigration law or regulations (usually spouses and minor unmarried children).

Board of Immigration Appeals
The Board of Immigration Appeals, commonly referred to as the BIA, issues appellate administrative decisions that are binding on the DHS Bureaus responsible for enforcing immigration laws nationwide.

Port-of-entry parole
Authorized at the port upon alien’s arrival; applies to a wide variety of situations and is used at the discretion of the supervisory immigration inspector, usually to allow short periods of entry.

Files Control Office
An USCIS field office--either a district (including USCIS overseas offices) or a suboffice of that district--where alien case files are maintained and controlled.

Legalized Aliens
Certain illegal aliens who were eligible to apply for temporary resident status under the legalization provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

Country of Former Allegiance
The previous country of citizenship of a naturalized U.S. citizen or of a person who derived U.S. citizenship.