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Glossary of Immigration Terms & Legal Terms Begining with L

Labor Certification

Requirement for U.S. employers seeking to employ certain persons whose immigration to the United States is based on job skills or nonimmigrant temporary workers coming to perform servic
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Labor Condition Application (LCA)

From travel.state.gov A request to the Department of Labor for a foreign worker to work in the United States.

Law Firm

A law firm is a group of one or more lawyers working together to serve clients. Often times a law firm is a legal entity such as a partnership, a limited liability company or some other
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Lawful Permanent Resident

Any person not a citizen of the United States who is residing the in the U.S. under legally recognized and lawfully recorded permanent residence as an immigrant. Also known as "Permanen
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Lawful Permanent Resident Alien (LPRA)

From travel.state.gov Lawful permanent resident.

Lawsuit

A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty which resulted in harm to the plaintiff.

Lawyer

A lawyer in the United States is an individual licensed or otherwise authorized by one or more Courts, the United States Patent & Trademark Office, the USCIS, the Board of Immigrati
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Lay Worker

From travel.state.gov A person who works in a religious organization but is not a member of the formal clergy.

LEA

From travel.state.gov See local educational agency.

Legal Advice

Any advice which purports to explain any law or legal process or which offers any legal opinion on a matter which might reasonably cause a lay person to act or refrain from acting and p
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Legal Parolee

Parolee

Legalization Dependent

A maximum of 55,000 visas were issued to spouses and children of aliens legalized under the provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 in each of fiscal years 1992-94.

Legalized Alien

Certain illegal aliens who were eligible to apply for temporary resident status under the legalization provision of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. To be eligible, alien
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Legitimation

From travel.state.gov The legal process which a natural father can use to acknowledge legally his children who were born out of wedlock (outside of marriage). A legitimated child can be
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Legitmated

Most countries have legal procedures for natural fathers of children born out of wedlock to acknowledge their children. A legitimated child from any country has two legal parents and ca
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Lien

A charge on specific property that is designed to secure payment of a debt or performance of an obligation. A debtor may still be responsible for a lien after a discharge.

LIFE Act

From travel.state.gov Legal Immigration Family Equity (LIFE) Act and amendments. This act of Congress allows foreign spouses of American citizens, the children of those foreign spouses,
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Liquidated claim

A creditor's claim for a fixed amount of money.

Liquidation

A sale of a debtor's property with the proceeds to be used for the benefit of creditors.

Litigation

A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.

Local Educational Agency

From travel.state.gov School or school district. Also called LEA. This term is used for deciding tuition charges for secondary school students in F-1 visa status.

Lose Status

From travel.state.gov To stay in the United States longer than the period of time which Department of Homeland Security (DHS) gave to a person when he/she entered the United States, or
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Lottery

From travel.state.gov See diversity visa program.

LPR

Any person not a citizen of the United States who is residing the in the U.S. under legally recognized and lawfully recorded permanent residence as an immigrant. Also known as "Permanen
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