U.S. immigration law provides for granting visas and Green Cards to individuals who have a close relationship to either a U.S. Citizen or a permanent resident. These visas are sometimes referred to as family based visas. For immediate family members (which means the spouse of a U.S. citizen, the parents of children over 21 who are themselves U.S. citizens and unmarried children of U.S. citizens) this process can be relatively quick and straightforward and is not subject to any quota restrictions. Click here if you are a U.S. citizen and would like more information about how to apply for a family based visa for one of your immediate relatives.
All other family based visas are subject to an annual numerical quota limitation under visa issuance guidelines that are published monthly by the US Department of State.
The total number of visas available for non-immediate relative family sponsored immigrants is 480,000 annually. When the quota numbers are over subscribed for any year, the foreign relative must wait until the next fiscal year (October 1) and until the visa waiting list for their visa category becomes current before they can determine whether they have become eligible under that visa category.
Immigration stories often involve families. Many of these stories start with a family being separated when a brother or sister or spouse heads off to study or work in a distant location. As immigration lawyers one of the important jobs we do is help our clients figure out how to reunite with their families, notwithstanding distances of many thousands of miles and immigration laws that sometimes make those distances seem even more difficult to overcome.
But there are a number of ways that the immigration laws of the United States may be able to help you and your family. There are rules and special types of visas that can help bring parents and children or spouses back together. Sometimes, once we learn a client’s complete family history, we discover a path to immigration for one of our clients based on something that client’s mother or father may have done twenty years earlier during a prior stay in the United States.
Here on this page we have highlighted some of the key ways we can help bring immigrant families back together. But every immigrant’s story is different and in order for us to help you and your family we need to hear your story.
For help with Family-based visas and Green Cards, please contact the New York Immigration Law Center.