Terms Used In U.S. Code > Title 8 > Chapter 12 > Subchapter II > Part V - Adjustment and Change of Status

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Agricultural commodity: as used in this subchapter , means wheat, cotton, flax, corn, dry beans, oats, barley, rye, tobacco, rice, peanuts, soybeans, sugar beets, sugar cane, tomatoes, grain sorghum, sunflowers, raisins, oranges, sweet corn, dry peas, freezing and canning peas, forage, apples, grapes, potatoes, timber and forests, nursery crops, citrus, and other fruits and vegetables, nuts, tame hay, native grass, hemp, aquacultural species (including, but not limited to, any species of finfish, mollusk, crustacean, or other aquatic invertebrate, amphibian, reptile, or aquatic plant propagated or reared in a controlled or selected environment), or any other agricultural commodity, excluding stored grain, determined by the Board, or any one or more of such commodities, as the context may indicate. See 7 USC 1518
• alien: means any person not a citizen or national of the United States. See 8 USC 1101
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• approved insurance provider: means a private insurance provider that has been approved by the Corporation to provide insurance coverage to producers participating in the Federal crop insurance program established under this subchapter. See 7 USC 1502
• area: includes any Indian reservation (as defined in section 1985(e)(1)(D)(ii) ² of this title). See 7 USC 1471
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• association: when used in reference to a corporation, shall be deemed to embrace the words "successors and assigns of such company or association" in like manner as if these last-named words, or words of similar import, were expressed. See 1 USC 5
• Attorney General: means the Attorney General of the United States. See 8 USC 1101
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Board: means the Board of Directors of the Corporation established under section 1505(a) of this title. See 7 USC 1502
• child: means an unmarried person under twenty-one years of age who is&mdash. See 8 USC 1101
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Corporation: means the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation established under section 1503 of this title. See 7 USC 1502
• county: includes a parish, or any other equivalent subdivision of a State or Territory of the United States. See 1 USC 2
• crewman: means a person serving in any capacity on board a vessel or aircraft. See 8 USC 1101
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the United States Department of Agriculture. See 7 USC 1502
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Federal prosecutor: A lawyer appointed by the President in each judicial district to prosecute and defend cases for the federal government.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• foreign state: includes outlying possessions of a foreign state, but self-governing dominions or territories under mandate or trusteeship shall be regarded as separate foreign states. See 8 USC 1101
• Habeas corpus: A writ that is usually used to bring a prisoner before the court to determine the legality of his imprisonment. It may also be used to bring a person in custody before the court to give testimony, or to be prosecuted.
• immigrant: means every alien except an alien who is within one of the following classes of nonimmigrant aliens&mdash. See 8 USC 1101
• immigrant visa: means an immigrant visa required by this chapter and properly issued by a consular officer at his office outside of the United States to an eligible immigrant under the provisions of this chapter. See 8 USC 1101
• immigration judge: means an attorney whom the Attorney General appoints as an administrative judge within the Executive Office for Immigration Review, qualified to conduct specified classes of proceedings, including a hearing under section 1229a of this title. See 8 USC 1101
• immigration laws: includes this chapter and all laws, conventions, and treaties of the United States relating to the immigration, exclusion, deportation, expulsion, or removal of aliens. See 8 USC 1101
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• individual: shall include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development. See 1 USC 8
• ineligible to citizenship: when used in reference to any individual, means, notwithstanding the provisions of any treaty relating to military service, an individual who is, or was at any time permanently debarred from becoming a citizen of the United States under section 3(a) of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, as amended (54 Stat. See 8 USC 1101
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• lawfully admitted for permanent residence: means the status of having been lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant in accordance with the immigration laws, such status not having changed. See 8 USC 1101
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• livestock: means cattle, elk, reindeer, bison, horses, deer, sheep, goats, swine, poultry (including egg-producing poultry), llamas, alpacas, live fish, crawfish, and other animals that&mdash. See 7 USC 1471
• livestock producer: means &mdash. See 7 USC 1471
• national: means a person owing permanent allegiance to a state. See 8 USC 1101
• national of the United States: means (A) a citizen of the United States, or (B) a person who, though not a citizen of the United States, owes permanent allegiance to the United States. See 8 USC 1101
• naturalization: means the conferring of nationality of a state upon a person after birth, by any means whatsoever. See 8 USC 1101
• nonimmigrant visa: means a visa properly issued to an alien as an eligible nonimmigrant by a competent officer as provided in this chapter. See 8 USC 1101
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• officer: includes any person authorized by law to perform the duties of the office. See 1 USC 1
• order of deportation: means the order of the special inquiry officer, or other such administrative officer to whom the Attorney General has delegated the responsibility for determining whether an alien is deportable, concluding that the alien is deportable or ordering deportation. See 8 USC 1101
• organization: means , but is not limited to, an organization, corporation, company, partnership, association, trust, foundation or fund. See 8 USC 1101
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• permanent: means a relationship of continuing or lasting nature, as distinguished from temporary, but a relationship may be permanent even though it is one that may be dissolved eventually at the instance either of the United States or of the individual, in accordance with law. See 8 USC 1101
• person: means an individual or an organization. See 8 USC 1101
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Point of order: A claim made by a legislator from the floor that a rule of the legislature is being violated. If the Chair sustains the point of order, the action in violation of the rule is not permitted.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• refugee: means (A) any person who is outside any country of such person's nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, or (B) in such special circumstances as the President after appropriate consultation (as defined in section 1157(e) of this title) may specify, any person who is within the country of such person's nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, within the country in which such person is habitually residing, and who is persecuted or who has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. See 8 USC 1101
• residence: means the place of general abode. See 8 USC 1101
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Agriculture. See 7 USC 1502
• Service: means the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of Justice. See 8 USC 1101
• special immigrant: means &mdash. See 8 USC 1101
• State: includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. See 8 USC 1101
• State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• stowaway: means any alien who obtains transportation without the consent of the owner, charterer, master or person in command of any vessel or aircraft through concealment aboard such vessel or aircraft. See 8 USC 1101
• subscription: includes a mark when the person making the same intended it as such. See 1 USC 1
• substantial: means , for purposes of paragraph (15)(E) with reference to trade or capital, such an amount of trade or capital as is established by the Secretary of State, after consultation with appropriate agencies of Government. See 8 USC 1101
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• United States: except as otherwise specifically herein provided, when used in a geographical sense, means the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands of the United States, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. See 8 USC 1101
• unmarried: when used in reference to any individual as of any time, means an individual who at such time is not married, whether or not previously married. See 8 USC 1101
• VAWA self-petitioner: means an alien, or a child of the alien, who qualifies for relief under&mdash. See 8 USC 1101
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• vessel: includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water. See 1 USC 3
• writing: includes printing and typewriting and reproductions of visual symbols by photographing, multigraphing, mimeographing, manifolding, or otherwise. See 1 USC 1