Citizenship & Immigration Law Firm

Offering Family Immigration Services in various Legal Categories

Spouses, Children, Parents and Siblings:
United States immigration laws have traditionally favored family reunification. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), family relationships involving spouses, children, parents and siblings provide a basis for granting immigration benefits.
The INA creates two broad categories for family members: immediate relatives and family-based preference categories.

Immediate Relatives

Spouses, Parents and Children of United States citizens.
Spouses: For a United States citizen to petition for his or her spouse as an immediate relative, there must be a valid marriage which was legally entered into.
Parents: For a United States citizen to petition for a parent as an immediate relative, the petitioning citizen child must be over the age of 21 but can be married or unmarried. U.S. citizens who are under the age of 21 cannot petition for their parents under any circumstances.
Children: U.S. citizen parents may petition for their children but to qualify as an immediate relative, the child must be under the age of 21 and unmarried.
Procedurally, the immediate relative category has advantages over the preference categories (see below). There are no numerical limitations on the number of immediate relatives who might immigrate from any country. Further, if in the U.S., "immediate relatives" are exempt from certain bars such as unauthorized employment, overstaying their time of admission, or violating their specific nonimmigrant status.
On the other hand, spouses and children of immediate relatives - unlike preference aliens - do not obtain derivative status. In other words, if a person immigrates as an immediate relative parent of a U.S. citizen, that person's spouse and/or minor children would not also automatically qualify for immigration visas as would spouses and/or minor children of a preference alien.

The Family-Based Preference Categories

Family One - unmarried sons and daughters of United States citizens. The son or daughter must be unmarried at the time the petition is filed and at the time of entry into the U.S. Where an 'immediate relative' petition has been approved for a 'child' and the child reaches the age of 21, the petition is automatically converted to Family One. Where there is an approved Family One petition and the son or daughter marries, the petition is automatically converted to Family Three. The numerical quota for this category has been current for every country except Mexico and the Philippines.

Family Two - spouses and unmarried sons and daughters of permanent residents. This preference category is divided into two subgroups:
Family 2A - Spouses and children under the age of 21.
Family 2B - Unmarried children over the age of 21.
Married children of permanent residents do not qualify for any immigration benefits.
For all countries, there are long delays in the Family 2A category and even longer delays in the Family 2B category. The Family 2A waiting period is over five years. The Family 2B wait is nine years.

Family Three - married sons and daughters of United States citizens. For all countries except Mexico and the Philippines, the waiting period is slightly over three years. For the Philippines and Mexico, the time interval is substantially longer.
Conditional Permanent Residence for Spouses
In order to discourage what was perceived as widespread marriage fraud, when an immigrant is granted permanent resident status based on a marriage that is less than two years old, the alien is granted "conditional permanent resident" status. This conditional status lasts for two years from the date that the person becomes a lawful permanent resident, not two years from the original marriage date.
The person must petition to remove this status. If the parties are still married, they can jointly petition to remove this conditional status any time between the 21st and 24th monthly anniversary of the grant of conditional status. If a joint petition cannot be filed, the conditional resident can file a waiver where: the spouse is deceased; the marriage was entered into in good faith but terminated through a divorce or annulment; the marriage was entered in good faith but the person was the victim of battering or extreme cruelty; or where the termination of the status and deportation would result in extreme hardship.
Children who obtain status as either a "child" or "stepchild" based upon a marriage of less than two years are also conditional residents and must file to have their conditional status removed. Where the parent is also a conditional resident, the parent can include the child in his or her application.

Affidavit of Support  An Affidavit of Support (Form I-864) must be completed by U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents who sponsor family members as immigrants to live in the United States.
The law requires a sponsor to demonstrate an income level at or above 125% of the Federal poverty line, as published annually by the Department of Health and Human Services.
If the sponsor's household income does not meet the income requirements, evidence of assets, such as cash in savings accounts, stocks, bonds, or property, may be considered in determining the sponsor's ability to support the immigrant.
If the sponsor cannot meet the required come level based on income and assets, a U.S. citizen or permanent resident may serve as a joint sponsor. The joint sponsor must meet all sponsorship requirements and be willing to assume legal liability for the sponsored immigrant(s).