Family-based immigration, what you need to know

Here’s what you need to know about Family-Based Immigration

The United States establishes a limit on the number of visas they give out for the purpose of family-based immigration. The United States citizenship and the immigration service (USCIS) is the governing body that is charged with determining your eligibility for those visas. In this blog we want to give you an overview of how family based immigration works in the United States and how you may be able to bring a foreign member of your family to the United States by obtaining permanent residency through a green card thus getting the privilege of living and working in the country permanently.

Petitioner and beneficiaries

A foreign citizen seeking to live permanently in the United States requires an immigrant visa (IV). To be eligible to apply for an IV, a foreign citizen must be sponsored by an immediate relative who is at least 21 years of age and is either a U.S. citizen or U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident (that is, a green-card holder). Let’s explore this!

To be eligible for a family-based immigration process it requires you have a person that will be considered the petitioner and a person or persons considered the beneficiaries. The first of these (petitioner) will be the one in charge of making the petition for the process and is required to be a United States citizen or a lawful permanent resident with the intention of sponsoring a foreign family member and is a green card holder. Secondly, the beneficiary is considered a family member who wants to complete the process and at some point obtain a green card. There does exist another category in this process that may allow the beneficiary to come to the U.S with spouse and children if they qualify as derivative beneficiaries.

Immediate Relatives and Family Preferences

Every single family-based immigrantion process takes into consideration two categories, Spouses, parents, and unmarried children (under the age 21) are all in the immediate relatives category which have special immigration priority because there are no limits for the number of visas available to immediate relatives. That means you won’t need to wait in line for a visa number to become eligible to immigrate.

All other applicants fall under the family preference category in which the process for obtaining a green card will begin with the U.S citizen or permanent resident sponsor filling out form 1-130 and petitioning for the alien relative, which establishes a qualified relationship as well serves as a formal request for a visa number. This last category has a limited number of visas because the immigration law puts a cap on the number of green cards available to family preferences each year.

The Green Card Application 

After the USCIS approves the I-130 petition and the visa petition number is available your foreign family member may apply for a green card. From here there are two paths to follow to apply for a green card. The first one is the consular processing in which the candidate applys for the green card through the United States Embassy or its consular office in the foreingn country your relative resides. This is the most common path. Sometimes an immigrant already lives in the United States, with a visa, as a temporary visitor, like those on a student visa or the tourist visa in which case he or she may be able to make an adjustment of status to their permanent residency, but the latter is only available for a few applicants

Dates and Priorities

You should expect that this process takes time. The fact is, the demand for family preference immigrant visas exceeds the number of actual visas available. There is even a waiting list due to the large number of people who want to obtain a green card. If you are put on the waiting list your family member’s place in line is set with a priority date which is the same date the I-130 petition was filed and accepted. Keep in mind this only happens with family preference visa petitions because as stated before, immediate relatives have an unlimited number of visas available to them.

If you have already began the process to obtain a green card it is important that you check the U.S department of state visa bulletin to know your placement in line. You should take into consideration that depending on the category you fall in that it may take months and or years for a decision to be made. If you haven’t started this process as of yet, but you are interested in getting help with your family-based immigration needs or know someone who could use professional legal guidance, contact our office by calling us at +1 (678)-249-3899 or you can speak with us using WhatsApp. The Gonzalez Torres Law Firm has a specialized lawyer with experience in immigration law and we will be more than happy to help you with your case!