What factors create ineligibility to receive a visa?
There are certain circumstances which make visa applicants categorically ineligible to receive a visa of any type.  The following reasons are sufficient to create such ineligibility:

• The applicant has a communicable disease.
• The applicant has a dangerous disorder.
• The applicant has entered the United States illegally in the past.
• The applicant has engaged in serious criminal activity.

Are there any options for prospective immigrants who are ineligible to receive a visa?
Applicants who are presumed ineligible to receive a visa can apply for a waiver of ineligibility.  The Attorney General has discretion to waive ineligibility for aliens who fall into one of the following categories:

1. Spouses or unmarried children of a United States citizen, lawful permanent resident or immigrant visa holder.
2. Parents of a United States citizen, lawful permanent resident or immigrant visa holder.
3. Other applicants whom the Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services decide to issue waivers for.

Waivers are never issued to applicants who have been convicted of murder or torture.  Otherwise, the Attorney General may grant a waiver of ineligibility if admitting the applicant would not run contrary to national welfare, safety, or security.  The applicant must also demonstrate that:

1.            He or she is fully rehabilitated.

2.            That exclusion would create an extreme hardship for the United States citizen or lawful resident who is related to the alien.