Family Preference Categories in Virginia
A person does not actually have to apply to enter into a family preference category. They submit the I-130 application, and USCIS will assign the person to the appropriate category.
The family preference category is divided up numerically. There is a certain quota assigned to each of the four categories of relatives. For instance, the third preference category, which is married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens, has 23,400 visas allocated to it by the U.S. government into the United States each year. Once that number is reached for the fiscal year, the government is not allowed to grant any more in that category.
This has created a very long backlog because historically there are many more people applying for legal status than visa numbers available. The Visa Bulletin is basically the line a person waits in to get into the United States under the family preference category. To discuss your specific case, speak with a local Virginia immigration attorney as soon as possible.
Category 1
Unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens are included in the family preference category 1.
Category 2
Category 2 is for spouses and children and also for unmarried sons and daughters of legal permanent residents. There are actually two subsets of category 2. The 2A category is reserved for the spouses and children of legal permanent residents. The 2B category is for the unmarried sons and daughters of permanent residents.
Category 3
The married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens are included in category 3.
Category 4
The brothers and sisters of adult U.S. citizens are included in category 4. A small number of visas are allocated to that category. So, the wait time is generally quite long. It is up to eighteen or twenty years for immigrants from certain countries like Mexico and the Philippines.
What is the Visa Bulletin?
The Visa Bulletin is a list published each month by the Department of State that shows the wait time for each of the family preference categories.
Once a person’s number becomes available it means it’s their turn to apply for a visa. It’s very important to act quickly because the visa numbers can retrogress, meaning that a person’s priority date can be current one day, but then if the government receives more applications than there are visa numbers available, the date can go backwards.
That means that a person can be current and eligible to apply at one point and the next month be ineligible again. In some cases the bulletin has retrogressed for extensive periods of time, so it’s important to submit the application as soon as you’re eligible.
Determining Wait Time for Families
The wait time is determined by which family preference category a person is in. There are different numerical quotas for each family based category. Some familial relationships have longer wait times than others. The wait time is determined by the category of the family member. It is also determined by which country a person is from.
Some countries such as Mexico, Philippines, and India have longer wait times because there are numerical limits on how many individuals can be allowed into the United States from those countries every year. China, India, Mexico, and the Philippines have longer wait lines than other countries.
Time it Takes for a Relative to Obtain Permanent Residence
Generally, it takes around six months if the intending immigrant is already in the United States, but that time varies depending on USCIS’s caseload at that time and may vary. There have been times in the past where they have taken up to a year to approve just the I-130 petitions. Generally, however, the processing time for the I-130 is four to five months for the initial adjudication, and then in some cases you’ll have to attend an interview and wait another week or two to receive the final notices in the mail.
What Happens After Application is Approved
For an immediate family member who filed the I-130 and the I-485 at the same time, the moment both applications are approved they are in legal permanent resident status. They have to wait a couple more weeks to receive the actual physical green card, but at the time the application is approved, they are a legal permanent resident.
One caveat to that it that in some cases, when the application is based on a marriage that is less than two years old at the time of filing, instead of becoming a legal permanent resident when the I-130 and I-485 applications are granted, they will become a conditional resident.
That means the person is on a kind of probation and needs to file another application in two years to remove the “conditions” on their residency. It’s kind of like a probationary period, and as long as you’re still married to your petitioner spouse it’s a very simple application, filed on USCIS form I-751.
In cases where the two years of conditional residency has brought divorce, death of the spouse, or if there is an abusive situation in which the petitioning spouse doesn’t want to sign off on the I-751, there are ways to get a waiver of the joint signing requirement of the I-751 and to remove the conditions without the petitioning spouse or former spouse. Those applications are far more complicated, and generally people should have a Virginia family immigration lawyer for these types of cases.
