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Immigrant Visas

General Information

Immigrant Visas

Immigrant Visas

Immigrant visas are for people who plan to live, work or study and remain permanently in the United States.  U.S. immigration law provides for the issuance of immigrant visas in four general categories: immediate relatives, family-based, employment-based, and the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (also known as the "green card" lottery).

U.S. immigration law assumes that beneficiaries of Immigrant Visas will live permanently in the United States.

Important changes to visa application procedures

As of March 9, 2012, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul has implemented new visa application procedures. These new procedures are being put into place worldwide to ensure that all U.S. visa applicants receive the same level of service and pay the same fees for visa-related services such as appointment scheduling and courier delivery. These services will be provided to visa applicants under the Global Support Strategy (GSS) by our authorized partner, CGI Stanley.

All visa applicants should go to the GSS website to schedule a visa appointment.


  Implementation of New USCIS Immigrant Fee February 1, 2013

Effective February 1, 2013, all individuals issued immigrant visas overseas must pay a $165.00 USCIS Immigrant Fee before traveling to the United States. Only prospective adoptive parents whose child(ren) is/are entering the United States under either the Orphan or Hague Process, Iraqi and Afghan special immigrants who were employed by the U.S. government, returning residents, and those issued K visas are exempt from the new fee. The below USCIS website has more
details on the new fee, including contact information for USCIS, if there are further questions: www.USCIS.gov/immigrantfee

Note: Only those applicants issued immigrant visas on or after February 1, 2013 must pay the new fee.

IMPORTANT PAMPHLET FOR IR1, CR1, F21, FX1, K1, AND K3 VISA APPLICANTS:
Please read the International Marriage Broker Regulation act (IMBRA) pamphlet to learn about legal rights available to immigrant victims of domestic violence in the U.S. and facts about immigrating on a marriage-based visa.

TO SCHEDULE YOUR APPOINTMENT:

  1. IR/CR/ SB/IB/IW visa applicants
    Please go to the Global Support Strategy (GSS) website to schedule your visa appointment.
  2. F/E/SD/SR/SE/C5/I5/T5/DV/SI/SQ visa applicants
    First, please submit your appointment request through online. 6-10 weeks after you submit your appointment request, you will be notified if you are eligible to schedule an interview appointment.

    After being notified, you can schedule your appointment. Please go to the Global Support Strategy (GSS) website to schedule your visa appointment.

    Please note that if you schedule your appointment before being notified, your appointment will be cancelled.
  3. K visa applicants
    After payment, please go to the Global Support Strategy (GSS) website to schedule your visa appointment. You must wait for at least 4 hours before you can schedule your appointment after payment. For further information, please go to the fee payment website.

Application Status Check

  • Thread Starting December 20, 2012, applicants for nonimmigrant visas (NIVs) can view the status of their visa cases through the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) by entering their CEAC Barcode and the interview location.

    All immigrant visa cases created after 1991 and all Diversity Visa (DV) cases from the current fiscal year that have not been issued are available in CEAC Visa Status Check. Immigrant visa cases that have been closed will be available for six months from the date they are closed.

Discover America

  • Discover America

DV Scam Alert

  • Thread Beware of Voice Phishing and Diversity Visa Lottery Internet Scams

    The U.S. Embassy visa section does not contact applicants through an Automated Response System. If you receive a ARS phone call identifying the caller as the U.S. Embassy visa section, please do not respond to the recording system. We contact applicants directly, without a recording system, only when there is a specific issue on your visa application.

    Please also beware of any e-mails regarding the Diversity Visa Lottery. The Department of State does NOT notify successful Diversity Visa applicants by e-mail. There are many Internet scams worldwide relating to the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, many asking for substantial fees for registration and processing and personal information. Some scams claim the recipient has, in fact won the Diversity Lottery. Registration through the official U.S. government website, although registration is only open from October to December every year. However, citizens born in Korea are not eligible for the Diversity Visa Lottery, there is nothing whatever to be gained by registering for the program through any private service. So, if you are a citizen born in Korea and you receive such an e-mail, it is almost certainly a scam.

    If you have any concern about the DV Lottery, please refer to the Department of State's website