Family Immigration

Overview

To promote family unity, the U.S. immigration law allows U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to petition for certain relatives.  This allows the foreign nationals to come and live permanently in the United State as a lawful permanent resident i.e., ‘green card holder’.

Family-based (FB) is one of the most-used methods of receiving a lawful permanent residency and can be filed either by U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. This is a two-step process and during the first step, the U.S. Citizen or lawful permanent resident files a family-based visa petition immigrant petition (I-130) with the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). During the second step, the foreign national relative files either an application for adjustment of status (I-485) if they are present in the U.S. or applies for an immigrant visa at the U.S. Embassy.

Related Issues

• A U.S. Citizen is eligible to sponsor their fiancée for K-1 (I-129 F) nonimmigrant visa.
• Spouse of a U.S. Citizen who are issued a conditional green card are eligible to file an application for Removal of Conditions (I-751) to obtain a permanent green card.