Immigrant Visas
- Translation:
- عربي
General Information
Welcome to the Immigrant Visa Unit of the Consular Section at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
An immigrant visa is a visa which lets you live and work permanently in the United States once you arrive. This is called Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) status, but many people call it having a "green card."
U.S. immigration law provides for immigrant visas in the following general categories:
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Family (certain relatives of U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents)
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Employment, including Special Immigrants
- Diversity Visa Lottery
In the Immigrant Visa Unit, we offer a few additional services beyond issuing immigrant visas:
- Fiancé(e) (K-1) visas
- Travel documents for family member of asylees and refugees in the U.S.
- Transportation letters for people who have lost their green card
- DNA sample collection for immigration-related relationship testing
- Fingerprinting for I-131 applications
Immigrant Visa Processing Fees (Effective April 15, 2012):
| Type of Visa | Previous Fee | New Fee |
| Immediate Relative and Family Preference Applications | $330 | $230 |
| Employment-Based Applications | $720 | $405 |
| Other Immigrant Visa Applications | $305 | $220 |
| Diversity Visa Program Fee | $440 | $330 |
| Determining Returning Resident Status | $380 | $275 |
Small Children Don't Need To Come
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Children aged 0-13 don't need to come for the immigrant visa interview unless they have their own separate petition (see below). While we work hard to make the waiting room comfortable for children (we even have a few toys and books), the day of the visa interview can be a long difficult day for children.
How to know if your child has a separate petition
- Your child's visa case type is IR2, CR2, or F22;
- Your child has his or her own case number starting with BGH that is different from the parents' case number; or
- Neither parent has a BGH case number.
If you're not sure if your child needs to come, please contact us.
DV 2013 Registration
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The online registration period for the 2013 Diversity Visa Program (DV-2013) closed on Saturday, November 5, 2011, at noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4). For more information on future installments of the program, click here.
Diversity Visa Scam Alert
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Many Iraqis are getting e-mails from criminals pretending to be the Department of State.
The Department of State does not notify Diversity Visa lottery winners by e-mail.
Many of these e-mails ask you to send money by Western Union to the following address in London:
24 Grosvenor Square
London, W1A 2LQ
United Kingdom
This is the physical address of the U.S. Embassy in London, but this is a trick: the money will go to the criminal somewhere else in the world.
To learn more about DV scams and what you can do, please read the Department of State's DV Scam Warning