Family Based Green Cards allow foreign family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to join them in the U.S. and settle there permanently. Spouses, parents, children, and siblings of U.S. citizens and permanent residents might be eligible for a Family Based Green Card.
To receive assistance with your Green Card application, call us today on ++16787013382 or +3301222991. Our immigration lawyers can assess your eligibility for a Family Based Green Card and help you submit your application.
A Family Based Green Card enables foreign family members of U.S. citizens and permanent residents to receive a Green Card and become lawful permanent residents in the US.
U.S. citizens can bring more distant relatives to the US than those who are permanent residents in the US. Moreover, applicants related to US citizens can receive their Green Cards and come to the US faster than family members of permanent residents.
The two categories of Family Based Green Cards are the Immediate Relatives category and the Family Preference category. Both of these groups include several visas that applicants can choose from depending on their relation to the U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
If you want to apply for one of the Family Based Green Cards, your U.S. relative, who will also be your sponsor, has to petition to USCIS on your behalf. It is not possible to self-petition for a Family Based Green Card.
You can qualify as an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen if one of the following applies to you:
If you determine that you are an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, you can apply for one of the following visas:
The biggest advantage of the Immediate Relative category is that there is no limit on how many of these visas can be granted each year. As the visas from this group are always available, the waiting time tends to be relatively short.
You can qualify as a preference relative if one of the following applies to you:
If you fall under the Family Preference category, you can apply for one of the following visas:
Unlike visas belonging to the Immediate Relative category, these visas are subject to numerical caps. As a result, many applicants have to wait several years for their family preference Green Cards.
A spouse or unmarried children under the age of 21 of the primary applicant might also be eligible for a US Green Card as accompanying relatives. These individuals are known as derivative beneficiaries.
Accompanying relatives have to be included in the visa petition. This will initiate the immigration process for them. Later they need to submit their own applications to adjust their status to permanent resident and remain in the US.
The derivative beneficiaries can be included in all preference relative visa applications. Nevertheless, it is not possible to apply for a Green Card based on being an accompanying relative of someone who is related to a U.S. citizen.
Regardless of whether you are applying as an immediate or preference relative, all Family Based Green Cards follow the same application process.
First, your US relative has to file Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative and submit it to USCIS on your behalf. Once the petition is approved, you have to wait for the visa to become available.
When that happens, applicants who are abroad need to go through consular processing. That means that your approved Form I-130 is sent to a US Embassy or Consulate in your home country, and to proceed with your application, you have to complete Form DS-261 and submit it to them. You also have to pay the application fee of $325.
After you have completed this step, you need to file Form DS-260, Immigrant Visa Application along with all the required documentation. You also have to attend an in-person visa interview.
Applicants who are already in the US on a different visa have to apply for the adjustment of status. To do that you have to file Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status and submit it to USCIS.
When you are submitting your application for a Family Based Green Card, you have to include a number of documents to prove your eligibility for it. For visas from both the Immediate Relative and Family Preference categories, you need to submit:
If your original documents are in a language other than English, they need to be translated. Depending on your individual situation, you might be required to submit other documents too.
How much you will have to pay for a Family Based Green Card depends on which visa category you qualify for and the country you are applying from. Nevertheless, all applicants have to pay the following fees:
You might also have to pay medical and biometric fees, as well as fees for having your supporting documents translated if they were issues in a non-English speaking country.
The waiting time for Family Based Green Cards differs depending on which visa category you fall under. Individuals who apply as immediate relatives receive their Green Cards much faster than those who are classified as preference relatives. That is because the visas belonging to the Immediate Relative Route are always available and there are no limits on how many of them can be given to applicants.
The wait for the family preference visas tends to be much longer with many applicants waiting as long as several years. The annual caps on these visas are as follows:
Once these limits are reached, no more applications will be processed that year and applicants have to wait for the visas to become available again before they can proceed with their application.
Our highly qualified immigration lawyers support clients from the very beginning of the application process until the very end. They can assess your eligibility for Family Based Green Cards, help you complete all the required forms, gather the necessary documentation, and submit your application to USCIS.
If you hire one of our lawyers, you will have access to expert advice and support at all times, which will make the application process stress-free. Thanks to their help you can avoid mistakes that could delay your application or result in your visa being denied.
No matter which Family Based Green Card you want to apply for, our lawyers can assist and answer all your questions.