Congratulations, you’ve successfully qualified for United States citizenship and now you want to share that status with your loved ones. But how long will it take to bring your parent into the country? As a U.S. citizen, you may apply for your relatives to have permanent resident status. Your parent falls into the immediate relative category, which means that they may apply for a green card that will grant them permanent resident status as soon as possible. There will be no wait for a visa number since Congress has placed no limitation on the amount of immediate relatives who may enter the U.S. each year, whereas other relatives may have to wait several years for their petition to process. Even so, it will take around 12 months to process all of the forms necessary to bring your parent into the country.
The first step towards your parent’s citizenship is filing the I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative), as the I-130 establishes the relationship between you and your parent. Remember that you must file a separate I-130 for each parent! Note that these forms currently cost $420, and the price often inflates, so be prepared for this investment in your family’s future. As soon as your I-130 petition is approved, the U.S. Department of State will invite your parent to apply for an immigrant visa. Many articles on this website help simplify this filing process. Please refer to them for more information on the I-130 document.
The U.S. citizen child (you!) petitioning for their parent must be 21 years of age or older. Note that a petition for your parents does not include any minor children of the parents, i.e. your siblings. Siblings fall into the fourth preference category and must be applied for separately as such. Also, a U.S. citizen may apply for a stepparent (someone who is married to your natural parent). Don’t forget that your parent must wait outside of the U.S. until they are able to immigrate legally, otherwise their eligibility for citizenship will be in jeopardy. If you file all of the appropriate documents correctly and on time the first time, you can avoid delaying your application process. All in all, the process should take about a year to complete, but seeing your parent(s) again will be worth the wait.
Eugene Jones is a principal in www.ImmiGreatNow.com.com which provides web solutions for family Immigration. Eugene is also a principal in www.connect4business.com a lotus domino manufacturing solution and www.nauvou.com.com web based solutions for customer support.
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