US Citizens Filing for Adult Children, Brothers and Sisters.

If you are a US Citizen, you can also sponsor your adult children, brothers and sisters.

If you are a green card holder, you can sponsor your spouses and children.

Because the government does not consider that grown up children and brothers/sisters are as close to you as your husband/wife, parents or your young children, these categories has very low preference. This means that it take many years – sometimes over a decade, to get a green card.

Every year there is a limit for how many green cards are approved in these categories. There are also limits on how many green cards are issued to relatives from different countries every year. Because so many people from India, China, Mexico and Philippines file every year, the queue for relatives in these categories is always many many years behind for these countries.

How to know when your case will be processed

If you are a US citizen filing for your immediate relatives, the case is processed right away. For everyone else, there is a delay. If you want to check when you can file Step II for your case, you can always go to the Department of State’s website.

The DoS publishes a Visa Bulletin each month where they list the cut-off date of the petition they are processing in every category. Your priority date is the date you filed the 130. You can find this on the receipt notice you get from the USCIS when you file the I-130.

If you had filed the I-130 before the cut-off date, you can file for adjustment or consular processing (step II). If the cut-off date on the Visa Bulletin is before your priority date, you have to wait.

For Example

If you filed a I-130 for your wife on March 1, your priority date is March 1.

If you are a US citizen, you can file for her adjustment / consular process right away. You never need to check the Visa Bulletin, because wife of a US citizen is an immediate relative. No quota or queue applies to your case.

If you are a green card holder, you have to check the date on the Visa Bulletin (cut-off date).

• If the Visa Bulletin cut-off date is after your priority date of March 1, you can file right away. This is because the government has processed all the cases it received before your case was filed and they have sufficient spaces left in the annual and per-country quotas.
• If, on the other hand, the Visa Bulletin cut-off date is before your priority date of March 1, you must wait till the Visa Bulletin date reaches your priority date of March 1. The government has already received sufficient cases before yours to fill the quota for your country and also the worldwide quota in your category.

How We Can Help

As attorneys we help our US citizens and green card holder clients in bringing your family members to the United States. We help you collect all the documents, complete all the forms and answer any questions the Immigration Service may have. We also help you plan the timeline so you know when your family member can be in the US with you. When we talk with you, we are always thinking of how to make the filing easier, faster, and cheaper for you. Our attorneys look at all your documents and suggest options that might make the process faster for you. We walk you through the do-dont’s after we file so your case goes forward smoothly. And we help you prepare in advance so you don’t lose any time.