If you are a widow/widower of a U.S. citizen you may be eligible to apply for immigration in the immediate relative category provided you were not legally separated at the time of your spouse’s death and you have not remarried.

Applying for the visa

You are required to file an immigrant visa petition, Form I-360, on your own behalf with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). If a petition has not already been filed, information about how to do so is available here.

The petition will take several months to process.  Once approved, the petition will be sent to either to the National Visa Center in New Hampshire (if filed in the United States) or the Immigrant Visa Unit here at the Embassy (if filed with USCIS field office in London).

If the petition was filed with USCIS in the United States, please click here for the next steps. 

If the petition was filed with USCIS in London, please click here for the next steps.

Note: The process of applying for the visa will take several months and vary with each individual application.  We cannot guarantee that a visa will be issued to you by a specific date.  We recommend, therefore, that you do not make final travel plans until your application has been processed and you have received your passport containg a valid visa.