Obtaining Your Green Card through a Family Member

Obtaining your green card through a family member is a multi-step process that requires the assistance of an experienced attorney.  There are various categories of relatives that can petition for family members to obtain their green cards.  For U.S. citizens who petition for immediate relatives to receive residence in the U.S., there is no waiting period before the immediate relatives are allowed to obtain their green cards.  Under the immigration laws, immediate relatives are spouses of citizens, children (under 21 years of age and unmarried) of citizens, and parents of citizens 21 years of age or older.

For other categories of relatives, there are waiting periods before the relative is allowed to enter the U.S.  These waiting periods are laid out in the Visa Bulletin, which is published monthly by the government.  In order to be eligible to obtain a green card, a relative’s “priority date” (the date an immigration petition was filed for him or her) must be before or the same as the date listed for that category of immigrants on the visa bulletin.  For some categories of immigrants, a relative will be required to wait years before he or she is eligible to obtain his or her green card.

Generally, the form that a U.S. citizen or Legal Permanent Resident uses to petition for a relative to obtain a green card is called an I-130.  The filing of the I-130 is the action that creates the priority date for the immigration petition.  Once the I-130 is approved and the relative’s priority date is current, the relative will be eligible to apply for his or her green card in one of two ways.  If the relative is in the U.S. and came to the U.S. legally, he or she may be able to “adjust status” by filing a form I-485.  This means that the relative will not have to leave the U.S. in order to apply for his or her green card.

If the relative is not in the U.S. or came to the U.S. illegally, he or she will likely have to process the green card application at a U.S. consulate abroad.  Whether a relative obtains his green card by adjusting status or consular processing, the relative who petitioned for him will need to fill out an Affidavit of Support.  The Affidavit of Support is essentially a contract between the petitioner and the government which states that the petitioner will provide financial support to the relative who is immigrating to the U.S.  The reason for this is that the U.S. government does not want people to immigrate to the U.S. who will need to rely on the federal welfare system as soon as they arrive.

Obtaining a green card through a family member is a complicated process.  Please call John L. Wheaton, Attorney at Law, at 206-829-8214 if you are seeking assistance.

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