Family Petition for US Immigration: What you Need to Know

According to statistics compiled by the Office of Homeland Security Statistics, family-based immigrants account for up to 70% of foreigners residing in the United States. Family-based immigration has shaped the character of American history from the earliest days. When the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, the ship’s manifest indicated 26 families aboard. Two centuries later, the Alien Contract Labor Law established family-based immigration with a clause allowing foreigners working in the U.S. to bring relatives who could join the workforce.

In 1952, the McCarran-Walter Act codified family-based immigration by granting foreigners with relatives in the U.S. preference for admission and processing. By 1965, American immigration laws were amended to expand admission quotas, and the Immigration Act of 1990 affirmed them with flexible caps.

These days, family-based immigration continues to shape the American Dream of freedom and prosperity. Foreigners with family members legally residing in the U.S. have a preference to apply for benefits offered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the federal agency tasked with managing various programs leading to legal residence and naturalization.

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How Family-Based Immigration Works

The process starts with the intentions of legal residents, including U.S. citizens, to bring foreign loved ones to the country. This is initially accomplished with petitions and applications for visas in the immigrant category. The State Department manages two main visa categories: immigrant and non-immigrant. While the latter category focuses on work, education, and business permits, the former assumes that foreigners intend to claim USCIS benefits to help them obtain legal resident status. In other words, the law assumes that foreign applicants intend to legally reside in the U.S. for indefinite periods.

Types of Family-Based Immigration Visas

The immigrant visa category features three hierarchical subcategories (programs) for family-based petitions. Immediate Relative (IR) visas are for the closest family members of American citizens, including foreign spouses, unmarried children until the age of 21, parents, and orphans.

Family (F) visas are for citizens and foreign legal residents with green cards to petition their unmarried foreign children, spouses, brothers, and sisters. The third subcategory features the K-1 program for citizens to petition foreigners they intend to marry in the U.S., with a subsequent path to legal immigration for foreign-born children and stepchildren.

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Starting the Petition

The process features considerable paperwork, interviews, biometric data collection, medical examinations, and fee payments. All petitions and applications start with submitting State Department and USCIS forms you can self-complete and manage; however, many petitioners retain the services of immigration law firms because the process features many bureaucratic complexities. Immigration lawyers help you avoid mistakes that can delay and derail the process, thus leaving your foreign loved ones waiting in limbo abroad.

After submitting your petition package, the next step is handled by diplomatic, consular, or immigration staff members tasked with reviewing the paperwork and making an admissibility determination before issuing a visa. Your loved ones must meet all legal requirements, including medical clearances, criminal background checks, and proof of financial support. When family-based immigration visas are issued, your loved ones will go through a second admissibility screening process when they arrive at the airport, seaport, or border crossing point, this time conducted by Customs and Border Protection agents.

After your loved ones are admitted, they will be jointly responsible for managing the rest of the immigration process, which usually features more biometrics, interviews, submitting application forms, and getting work permits before you can help them apply for adjustment of status from visa holder to conditional or permanent resident.