Asylee: An alien in the United States or at a port of entry who is found to be unable or unwilling to return to his or her country of nationality, or to seek the protection of that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution. Persecution or the fear thereof must be based on the alien’s race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. For persons with no nationality, the country of nationality is considered to be the country in which the alien last habitually resided. Aylees have been granted asylum by an immigration judge or an I.N.S. Asylum officer. Asylees are eligible to adjust to lawful permanent resident status after one year of continuous presence in the United States. Asylees are eligible for employment authorization.

Displaced person: A person who has been forced by dangerous circumstances to leave home for a place of safety within the home country. The dangerous circumstances could be natural disasters such as droughts or storms or they could be persecution or social unrest such as wars or revolutions. If a person flees to a place within the home country, he or she is called displaced. If that person flees to another country, he or she is called a refugee.

Green card: A slang term describing the permit that indicates that a person who is not a citizen has been granted legal permanent resident status in the United States. Such a "resident alien" can live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation unless he or she commits a serious criminal offense or lives outside the country for more than two years.

Refugee: A person who leaves his or her country of origin because of a "well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion." (Definition used by U.S. Refugee Act of 1980 and the United Nations.) Persons meeting that definition may be eligible for political asylum or refugee status. A significant number of refugees sharing a similar background is referred to as a refugee community. The term economic refugee is sometimes used to describe someone who does not meet the refugee definition because his or her survival is threatened not by persecution but by conditions like poverty or famine.

Resettlement: Moving a refugee from the country of first asylum to another country where he or she can settle permanently. Resettlement occurs when the refugee has no hope of returning safely to the home country. People waiting to be moved from the country of first asylum are often kept in resettlement camps until a place of resettlement can be found in another country.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS): Temporary permission to remain and work in the United States. The Attorney General has the authority to designate the countries from which its nationals or citizens are eligible for TPS based on a natural disaster or civil chaos. Such designations last for one year and may be renewed by eth Attorney General. Some countries for which TPS status has been designated in the past include Bosnia-Herzegovenia, Burundi, El Salvador, Kosovo, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liberia, Motserrat, Honduras, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan.

Undocumented Immigrant: A person who enters or stays in a country without legal permission. Also called illegal alien.