FAMILY BASED IMMIGRANT PETITIONS

Foreign nationals can unite with family members in the U.S. through family-based immigrant petition. Those that are currently in the U.S. may also have their U.S. citizens or permanent resident relatives to sponsor them through family-based petitions. Generally, a foreign national may be sponsored by a relative who is a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident, depending on the categories. The categories can be complicated to classified. Please contact our Houston Immigration Lawyers and our Houston family sponsor attorneys at Pham & Cloves, PLLC immediately to schedule a consultation. 

Generally, there are two categories within family-based petitions in which U.S. citizens or permanent residents may sponsor relatives. Depending on the petitioner’s status, foreign relatives may be sponsored as immediate relatives or through one of four preferences.

Immediate Relatives

“Immediate relative” can be spouses of U.S. citizens, children of U.S. citizens that are under 21 and are not married, and parents of U.S. citizens. A U.S. citizen spouse may sponsor an alien spouse abroad or if the person is currently residing in the U.S. If the child is born after February 27, 2001 to a U.S. citizen, the child is a derivative U.S. citizen and may obtain a U.S. passport upon entry into the U.S. or from the U.S. consular abroad if all requirements are met. Please consult our experienced Houston U.S. citizenship attorney for filing a derivative citizenship application or to obtain a U.S. passport. 

There are several advantages to be classified as an immediate relative. A great advantage is that immigrant visa will immediately be available for the alien relative to come to the U.S. Therefore, there would be no waiting period other than the processing time, which varies depending on the country and the number of applications from said country. A visa may be issued immediately and the foreign national may join the U.S. citizen relative immediately. If the person is already in the U.S., a conditional green card would be immediately issued to the foreign national relative. Please contact the Houston family immigration attorneys and the Houston family immigrant petition lawyers at Pham & Cloves, PLLC for more information.

Other Preferences Under Family Immigration Petitions

Each year, there are 226,000 visas issued to four other types of family immigration applications. The four preferences are called First Preference, Second Preference, Third Preference, and Fourth Preference. Irrespective of the name, one category is not necessary “better” than the other. The four preferences are categorized as follows:

First Preference is reserved for unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens that are over 21 years of age. This does not include children that were minors (under 21) at the time of filings but are now 21 or older because of the waiting period, which are protected under the Child Status Protection Act. At least 23,400 visas are reserved each year for this category.

Second Preference Subcategory (A) is reserved for spouses of U.S. permanent residents and takes up 77% of the available visas for this preference. Subcategory (B) is reserved for children of U.S. permanent residents that are under 21 and are unmarried and takes up the remaining 23% of available visas for the second preference.

Third Preference is reserved for married children of U.S. citizens takes up 23,400 visas annually from the 226,000 numerical limits. 

Fourth Preference is reserved for brothers and Sisters of U.S. Citizens occupy the fourth preference and take up 65,000 visas from the 226,000 numerical limits. 

Because the number of visas are limited and there are usually more applications worldwide per year than available visas under family immigration petitions. The result is that there are a waiting period (backlog) under the four preference based categories. To estimate how long the alien must wait to obtain an immigrant visa based on an application filed by an alien relative, please contact our Houston immigration lawyers and our Houston family based immigration petition attorneys.

Please contact our Houston Immigration law office to speak with an experienced Houston family immigration attorney or our Southwest Houston family immigration lawyer. Talk to our Houston immigration attorneys and see how we can assist you in obtaining either an immigrant for your foreign relatives.
 

Our Houston Immigration Lawyers and our Houston Immigration Attorneys assist clients in the Houston Texas area, as well as nation-wide, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Las Colinas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, The Valley, and Tyler. In addition, our experienced Houston Immigration Attorneys and our Houston Immigration Lawyers have assisted clients from England (the U.K.), Belgium, Germany, Denmark, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pakistan, Iraq, Kenya, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, and Korea. Our experienced Houston immigration attorneys are fluent in Vietnamese and Tagalog and our office also has language skills to assist clients wh Pham & Cloves, PLLC for more information. o speak Spanish, Nepalese, and Hindu. Please contact one of our Houston Immigration Law Firm and speak directly with our U.S. Immigration Attorneys and Lawyers for a personal consultation.