Giselle M. Rodriguez is a Boston immigration lawyer who helps clients with the full range of immigration challenges, including for families. She is bilingual (English & Spanish). Contact Giselle today to discuss your case, or read on to learn more.
What is family-based immigration?
Any time a United States citizen helps a family member legally immigrate to the US, that is considered family-based immigration. Sometimes the US citizen (the “petitioner”) is an immigrant, and sometimes he or she is a natural-born citizen of the US.
Family-based immigration often times involves 2 parties: 1) Petitioner; 2) Beneficiary. The petitioner will either be a legal permanent resident or a U.S. Citizen. The Beneficiary, on the other hand, will be the family member who is seeking to immigrate into the United States and reunite with the petitioner.
Here are the two general types of family-based immigration:
1. Immediate Relatives. “Immediate relatives” include parents, spouses, and unmarried children under the age of 21 of U.S. citizens. To be an immediate relative of a U.S citizen means that there is an unlimited number of immigrant visas available to the petitioner. In other words, you will likely not have to wait for an immigrant visa to become available to you.
2. Family-Preference Categories. Contrary to the category above, the family preference categories offer a limited number of immigrant visas. The following are considered family-preference categories:
- Spouses and unmarried children (under age 21) of legal permanent residents
- Unmarried sons and daughters over 21 of U.S. citizens
- Married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens
- Siblings of U.S. citizens (Brothers and sisters)
- Unmarried adult sons and daughters of legal permanent residents
The first step in starting the family-immigration process is completing the I-130 Petition for Alien Relative application – which qualifies and defines the relationship described.
Eventually, the process continues in the National Visa Center (NVC) which is under the umbrella of the Department of State. Once it leaves the NVC, the case ends at the U.S. Embassy of the particular country, which in turn conducts the final required interview.
Before getting to the interview step at the U.S. Embassy in the particular process, the relative needs to have completed a medical examination by a physician/doctor (Often named as a “Panel Physician”) approved by the particular embassy abroad.
If your family has an immigration challenge, contact Boston immigration attorney Giselle M. Rodriguez today to discuss your situation.