The United States offers various types of visas for immigrants and non-immigrant. The type of visa you need is determined by the purpose of your visit to the US. If you are non-immigrant traveling temporarily, it can be tourist visa, business visa, student visa, etc. If you want to live permanently in the US, then you will need immigrant visa also known as green card.

To obtain a US visa, first thing you have to do is to collect the application form that you can get from the US embassy and consulate. The US State Department's website (http://www.state.gov) can help you find a consulate near your place. After filling the form, you have to submit that in the embassy or consulate along with some documents like passport, papers detailing your employment, reason for travel, and financial status. You may have to deposit some fees also while submitting the application.

Your application will then be reviewed by the consular officer or the official in Washington, D.C. Non-immigrant visa is issued for most of the applicants within a few weeks but there is no certainty that you will be issued a visa. If your name or information during checking indicates security concerns, then the process will be delayed. You may be called for interviews or you need to give additional information or fingerprinting.

Besides, visa processing and operations depend on the type of visa and the circumstances in the country you belong. So it is advisable to contact the embassy or the consulate before applying for visa. The US government provides information to visa seekers giving detail of the policies and procedure at www.UnitedStatesVisas.gov.

For immigrants, the State Department holds a green card lottery by which it randomly selects applicants from across the world to receive about 50,000 permanent residency visas. For 2007, more than 5.5 million people had applied for green cards and of them 82,000 applicants have been intimated by the Department that they are eligible to apply for immigrant visa.

Hence it is advisable that you follow the proper procedures while applying for American visa. If you want to ensure that at least your application is correctly filled up and complete in all respects, you can take the help of http://www.myusgreencard.com. The website helps in filling-out the application forms for US green cards and helps in ensuring that the forms are complete in all respects.

Manu Goel is Senior editor for myusgreencard.com web articles. Myusgreencard.com specializes in the green card lottery application process. We will check your form for errors and notify you of missing information and photo requirements. We will then ensure your application is filed timely, properly and accurately. www.myusgreencard.com