---
kind: "section"
citation: "8 U.S.C. § 1156"
title: "8"
title_heading: "Aliens and Nationality"
number: "1156"
heading: "Unused immigrant visas"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/8/1156"
units:
  - "Chapter 12 — Immigration and Nationality"
  - "Subchapter II — Immigration"
  - "Part I — Selection System"
---

# §1156. Unused immigrant visas


If an [immigrant](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-15) having an [immigrant visa](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-16) is denied [admission](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-13-A) to the [United States](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-38) and removed, or does not apply for [admission](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-13-A) before the expiration of the validity of his visa, or if an [alien](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-3) having an [immigrant visa](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-16) issued to him as a preference [immigrant](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-15) is found not to be a preference [immigrant](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-15), an [immigrant visa](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-16) or a preference [immigrant visa](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-16), as the case may be, may be issued in lieu thereof to another qualified [alien](/usc/8/1101.md?p=a-3).


## Source credit

(June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title II, ch. 1, § 206, 66 Stat. 181; Pub. L. 89–236, § 6, Oct. 3, 1965, 79 Stat. 916; Pub. L. 104–208, div. C, title III, § 308(d)(4)(D), Sept. 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 3009–618.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1996—Pub. L. 104–208 substituted “denied admission to the United States and removed” for “excluded from admission to the United States and deported”.

1965—Pub. L. 89–236 substituted provisions allowing immigrant visas or preference immigrant visas to be issued to another qualified alien in lieu of immigrants excluded or deported, immigrants failing to apply for admission, or immigrants found not to be preference immigrants, for provisions relating to revocation of approval of petitions which, with minor amendments, were transferred to section 1155 of this title.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 1996 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 104–208 effective, with certain transitional provisions, on the first day of the first month beginning more than 180 days after Sept. 30, 1996, see section 309 of Pub. L. 104–208, set out as a note under section 1101 of this title.

### Effective Date of 1965 Amendment

For effective date of amendment by Pub. L. 89–236, see section 20 of Pub. L. 89–236, set out as a note under section 1151 of this title.