by Krista Eyler, Esq.

krista@neilflewis.com

A family based immigration petition is one of the least complicated ways for aliens to obtain their lawful permanent residence (green card) in the United States. In a family based petition, the alien’s family member files an I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, on behalf of the alien. Our office handles all types of family based immigration petitions, even the most complicated ones. We pride ourselves on our ability to help our family based immigration clients obtain their lawful permanent residence as effortlessly as possible, by guiding them through a sometimes difficult process. Before filing any petition, we evaluate the beneficiary’s complete immigration history in order to troubleshoot any foreseeable problems.

Generally, there are two main categories of family based petitions - petitions for immediate relatives and preference category immigrant petitions.

Immediate Relatives — Immediate relatives include the following familial relationships

* Spouses of U.S. citizens
* Minor unmarried children (under 21) of U.S. citizens
* Parents of U.S. citizens, provided the citizen petitioner is at least 21 years old
* In certain circumstances, spouses of deceased citizens.

Immediate relatives have the advantage of not having to wait for a visa to become available before they are eligible to apply for their lawful permanent residence. The I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, and the I-485, Application for Lawful Permanent Residence, are filed simultaneously with Citizenship and Immigration Services. With their permanent residence submission, immediate relatives are also eligible to apply for an employment authorization document, and often times a travel document. Once the service center completes the preliminary processing of the application, the beneficiary’s file is forwarded to the local office of Citizenship and Immigration Services for an interview.

Our office thoroughly prepares all of our clients for their interviews before Citizenship and Immigration Services. We schedule a pre-interview meeting with our clients to collect document, go over the application and petitions, and to ensure our clients feel as comfortable as possible before going to the interview, so the interview goes as smooth as possible.

Preference Petitions — The family preference categories include:

* 1st preference - Unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens (children who are older than 21 years of age (6 years)
* 2nd preference
- 2A - Spouses or children (under 21) of lawful permanent residents (5 years)
- 2B - Unmarried sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents (10 years)
* 3rd preference - Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens (8 years)
* 4th preference - Brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens (15 years)

In preference category petitions, the petitioner’s first step is to file an I-130, Petition for Alien Relative on the behalf of a beneficiary. Unfortunately, non-citizens applying for their lawful permanent residence, through a preference category petition, must wait for their priority date to be current and for their visa to become available before they can file their I-485, Application for Lawful Permanent Residence. The visa wait times are determined by the visa bulletin, which is a document updated monthly by the Department of State. The approximate visa wait times for the preference categories are listed above. These wait times apply to immigrant visa applicants from all countries except China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines. In most cases, visa wait times are longer, than the time listed above, for applicants from these four countries.

Once the I-130 petition is approved, and the priority date is current, the preference beneficiary may apply for their lawful permanent residence while living in the United States or while living abroad. If the applicant applies for lawful permanent residence while living in the United States, the beneficiary is eligible to receive an employment authorization document (in most situations) while their application is pending with Citizenship and Immigration Services. Normally, applicants applying for their lawful permanent residence in the United States will have to attend an interview at the local office of Citizenship and Immigration Services before they receive their lawful permanent residence.

For the applicants who live abroad, they must apply for their lawful permanent residence via the U.S. Consulate in their home country. Once the I-130 is approved, the beneficiary’s file will be transferred to the National Visa Center. The NVC requests additional documents and filing fees, and upon completion of the processing, the NVC forwards the beneficiary’s case to the Consulate in their home country. The Consulate will then contact the beneficiary to schedule an interview for lawful permanent residence.