Technical Terms on US Immigration

1. Ability to Pay
2. AC21 – American Competitiveness in the Twenty-first Century Act of 2000
3. Approvals
4. AD - Approval Date
5. Advocacy/Lobbying
6. Anti Immigrants
7. AOS - Adjustment of status
8. AOS - Affidavit of Support (Department of State definition, AOS means Affidavit of Support )
9. AP - Advance Parole (I-131) - is the authorization to travel outside the US while her adjustment of status is pending
10. AR - Administrative Review
11. ARC - Alien Registration Receipt Card (aka Green Card)
12. ASC – Application Support Center - offers fingerprinting services
13. Labor Audit
14. Backlog Center
15. BC - Birth Certificate
16. Bio - Biometrics (Digital photo, index finger FP and your digital signature. This is needed for the production of GC.
17. Citizenship
18. CP - Consular Processing
19. CPO - Card Production Ordered
20. CPR - Conditional Permanent Resident
21. Cross Chargeabilty
22. Contacting Senators/Congressmen
23. Country of Chargeability
24. Consular Processing
25. CSC - California Service Center
26. CWOP - Cancelled Without Prejudice
27. DCF - Direct Consular filing
28. DHS - Department of Homeland Security
29. DIL - Dictionary of Immigration Lingo
30. DO - District Office
31. DORA - Dallas Office Rapid Adjustment of Status
32. DOL - Department of Labor
33. DOS - Department of State
34. EAC - Eastern Application Center
35. EAC - Reciept Number starting with this means it is being processed at the Vermont Service Center
36. EAD - Employment Authorization Document (I-765, approval to work while waiting for AOS Approval)
37. EVL - Employment Verification Letter
38. ETA - Employment and Training Administration
39. FBI Name Checks
40. IV Flower Campaign
41. FP - Finger printing.
42. GC - Green Card
43. HR 5882
44. Hard LUD - LUD plus status change.
45. ID - Interview Date
46. iEAD - Interim Employment Authorization Document (If your EAD application has been pending past 90 days from the RD (not ND) you can go to your District Office to apply for an iEAD, this will allow you to work while your actual EAD is still pending.)
47. Exploitation
48. Labor Certification - Labor Certification
49. LCA - Labor Conditition Application
50. INA - Immigration and Nationality Act
51. INFOPASS - An Internet-based system that enables the public to go online to schedule appointments with immigration IOs at USCIS http://infopass.uscis.gov/
52. INS - Immigration and Naturalization Service
53. Interfiling
54. IO - Immigration officer
55. Illegal Immigration
56. Immigrant Petition
57. Immigration Voice
58. LIN - Reciept Number starting with this means it is being processed at the NSC
59. LPR - Lawful Permanent Resident
60. LUD - Last Updated Date
    Last Update Date. The Date that shows up in the USCIS application when you view it online.
61. MSC - Missouri Service Center
62. MTR - Motion to Reconsider
63. Nationality - Citizenship
64. NBC - National Benefit Center (is the one which process your forms initially)
65. ND - Notice Date (When USCIS notified you that they received your application)
66. ND - Notice Date. Mostly the date on which the I-485 app was entered into the USCIS database. (Note - For most July 2nd filers, the notice and receipt dates are more than a month apart).
67. NOA’s - Notice of Action is your receipt/letter that you received after you filed your forms indicates I-797C
68. NSC - Nebraska Service Center
69. NVC - National Visa Center
70. OFLC - ETA's Office of Foreign Labor Certification
71. Ombudsman
72. OPT - Optional Practical Training
73. Out of Status
74. PCC - Police Clearance Certificate
75. PD - Priority Date. Date when the labour was FIRST submitted.
76. Per Country Limit
77. PERM - Program Electronic Review Management (Permanent Labor Certification Program that took effect on March 28, 2005)
78. POE - Port of entry
79. POJ method
80. PP - Premium Processing
81. Porting priority date
82. Priority Date
83. RD - Receipt Date (When USCIS received your application)
84. Retrogression
85. RFE - Request for Evidence
86. RFI - Request for Initial Evidence
87. ROW. Rest of the world. It is a country category. There is China, India, Mexico, Philippinnes and Rest of the world(ROW).
88. Same or Similar
89. San Jose Rally
90. SC - Service Center (this is used with a prefix, eg CSC - California Service Center; MSC - Missouri Service Center (that is the address from where you will received your NOA's)
91. Service Center
92. Soft LUD - There is only LUD change. No change in status.
93. SRC - Reciept Number starting with this means it is being processed at the TSC
94. SSA - Social Security Administration
95. SSN - Social Security Number
96. SWA - State Workforce Agencies
97. Technology Alert List (TAL)
98. TSC - Texas Service Center
99. USC - US Citizen
100. USCIS - United States Citizenship And Immigration Services
101. VB - Visa Bulletin. The monthly (pain in the neck) bulletin that the USCIS/DOS prints out.
102. Visa Number
103. VSC - Vermont Service Center
104. Yates Memo
105. WAC - Reciept Number starting with this means it is being processed at the California Service Center
106. Writ of Mandamus

References

- http://immigrationvoice.org/forum/forum85-action-items-for-everyone/17659-all-technical-terms-on-immigration.html -