Did you know that if you are a United States citizen, in addition to bringing a spouse to this country, you can petition to bring your children, parents and siblings to this country?
It’s true! Legal permanent residents can sponsor their spouses and unmarried children. Although it is a lengthy process, you can make your family whole again through family green card sponsorship.
A U.S. citizen can do this because your spouse, minor children and even your parents are considered to be “immediate relatives”. “Immediate relative” classification means that your relative goes to the head of the line and only has to wait for the paperwork to be processed. If your relative is eligible to be process in the U.S., a citizen may file a family petition and the application for residency at the same time. If your relative has to process through an embassy, then the petition must be approved first before the embassy processes the residency visa. But your immediate relative is processed faster than any other type of category.
Siblings and adult children of United States citizens, as well as spouses and unmarried children of legal permanent residents are all considered preference relatives. Each month the Department of State releases a Visa Bulletin dictating the wait time for each type of relative, depending on their country of origin. For example, brothers and sisters of a United States citizen who have an approved petition these days will generally wait 14 years before a visa is available to them, however, if your sibling is Mexican, the wait time for a visa is more than 20 years.
Those who are not considered eligible for sponsorship include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents-in-law, and other extended family members such as nieces and nephews.
In any given year, a small percentage of green cards go to any one country. Countries such as India, Mexico, China, and the Philippines, typically wait longer for Visas than family members from other countries. Because the annual limits on how many immigrant visas are allowed in any given year, it is difficult to estimate the exact wait time from petition submission to visa issuance.
If you want to bring family members to the United States, it is important that you work with an experienced immigration lawyer. In this way, you can be sure that the family petition, known as a Form I-130, and all the other paperwork, are appropriately completed and submitted correctly.
As an experienced immigration lawyer, we can help guide you through what can be a complex, and sometimes frustrating process.
The attorneys at our firm will offer you expert assistance with any immigration matter including petitions for individuals, businesses, military personnel, asylum and deportation defense.
Call our office today and speak with attorney, Shawn Mesa at 813-679-5780. Let us get to work and help you on the road to becoming a citizen of this great country!
