Welcome to today's immigration attorney chat. My name is Attorney Vanessa Ruiz from Immigration
for Couples. For those of you who are new to our firm and Facebook page, welcome. For those
of you who have been here before or joining us again, we also welcome you and thank you for
coming back. Our firm is dedicated exclusively to helping couples navigate the US immigration
process we assist clients across the nation and across the world and we regularly host
these Facebook lives just like this one so we can provide you with important information and
updates in the world of immigration for couples to help people get a little bit
of a better idea of what's going on, whether it be from the basics or more complex issues,
very particular issues we try and definitely just keep people informed and help everybody
navigate what is definitely a complex system. For those of you who are here live today, please
feel free to comment. Let us know where you're watching from, say hello to us,
we love seeing the people who are here live. For those of you who are watching later, we also love
seeing you so please also feel free to comment. If you guys have any particular questions,
any topics that you'd like for us to cover also, comment those and we'll definitely be
there to try and go ahead and give you some clarity on whatever the question might be
if I'm able to. Sometimes, I try and do it after I talk about my regular topic for the day and
if not, then keep tuning in because for sure we love when people leave us comments and questions
because we definitely will talk about that in other videos as well. If you have that question,
it's very likely that somebody else also has that question so please feel free to let us know
so like I said we do have general topics that we like to discuss in these Facebook lives. Today,
we are going to be talking about one thing that seems to be a bit basic but it's always
a question that we get from people. Our topic for today is can I bring family members to the US?
Certain people who are permanent residents or US citizens are allowed to petition for other
family members. We get this question really often from resident citizens and those who are wanting
to be petitioned alike and that's why we wanted to go over and break it down a little bit today.
I'm going to divide it into two. We're going to talk about who a US citizen can petition
for and afterward, we're going to talk about who a permanent resident can petition. Main overall
question, can I bring family members to the U.S? Our favorite lawyer answer is always it depends.
It depends who are you wanting to bring over. We'll start off with U.S citizens. Who can I
petition for as a U.S citizen? As a U.S citizen, you do have the right to petition for more or just
different categories than a permanent resident does. One of the easiest, and we say easiest in
the sense that it's not necessarily easy but it's just a category that's more widely accepted and
tends to run a bit quicker than other categories of family members, but one of the main ones that
we deal with especially at Immigration for Couples are U.S citizens petitioning for their spouses
as well as their minor children. With immigration, the age of being a minor is not 18 like in some
U.S states, it's going to be 21. For immigration purposes, 21 and over is now considered an adult.
Under 21 is going to be still considered a minor. Minor children under 21 as well as parents of U.S
citizens. Those three categories: the spouse of a U.S citizen, a minor child of a U.S citizen,
and a parent of a U.S citizen all fall under the same immediate relative category meaning that
there is no wait and we say that with caution not that there's no way just that there is no
line that they have to get into to wait for an immigrant visa to be available for them. There's
going to always be an immigrant visa available for them, the wait time is just going to be that
processing time. Don't think that I said there is no way, there is definitely a wait as we know with
immigration, they're super delayed but essentially there's always going to be a visa available for
that category of people now. US citizens can also petition for their adult children,
over the age of 21 and over we have a guest joining us back here this is my dog lucky he's
ready for today's program too. Adult children over the age of 21 can be petitioned by US citizens
and it's one of the key parts to remember is that if you're a US citizen, you can petition
for an adult child whether they are married or unmarried. That's going to be really important
whenever we talk about residence but essentially it's just an adult child married or unmarried can
be petitioned by US citizen. There may just be a bit of a longer wait essentially because they
do have to join that line and wait for a visa to be available for them. The last category for US
citizens is going to be siblings. US citizens are allowed to petition for their siblings.
Same mother, same father, we can definitely petition those siblings. If it's a half sibling,
there are also ways to do that there just may be different ways to that we need to prove sibling
relationship and that's one of those things that unfortunately depending what country you're from,
you may be waiting a while so. While US citizens can petition for siblings, depending where you're
from, it might be something that you're waiting your whole life for. We have some categories
that take six years eight years ten years we also have some that take 20 years or more.
it's just one of those things that it doesn't hurt to ask always, we're always going to recommend to
ask an attorney to see what the best practice is but unfortunately, the sibling category is one
of the longest in many countries and so it's one of those things that you have to get started but
you're going to be waiting while but either way as long as you're informed as long as you know,
time flies. that's one of the things I always tell people I can't tell you how many consultations
I've had with people who say can I petition for my sibling? I tell them yes unfortunately the wait is
you know 12 years and then they're like that's too long and then they come back to me they come back
to me five years later and say okay I should have done it then let's start it now and we just lost
time, we lost years so those years although they sound like they're a lot are definitely
gonna be moving they're gonna be passing they're gonna be flying by eventually and so better to
get started ahead of time instead of waiting and then potentially losing some of those years as
well. Just kind of quick wrap up U.S citizens can petition for their spouses, their minor children,
their parents. They're always going to be in a special immediate relative category and then
you're going to have the adult children, whether they're married or unmarried and siblings who
fall under different categories which may take a little bit more time but essentially that's who
U.S citizens can petition for. Another one of the questions we always get is I just became a lawful
permanent resident I am a green card holder who can I petition for? It's going to be a little bit
different. US citizens obviously have more rights more benefits. Lawful permanent residents have
some of those benefits, but not all of them. It's more beneficial for a permanent resident
eventually to try and get their citizenship as soon as possible. We're always going to recommend
that if a person is going to qualify because it definitely will open up more doors. Essentially,
permanent residents can petition for their spouses so that happens pretty often. A lot of times,
maybe a child is petitioning for their parents, their parent now has a new spouse needs to wait
for that person to become a resident and then they can petition for their spouse. A lot of
times it's going to be a domino effect it's going to be if this then that if ABC then XYZ that's
also kind of one of those benefits of having an immigration attorney to help you along with the
process. Sometimes timing is key and a lot of times people think that they're just going to
go ahead and petition for everybody but they might not actually be able to. There are a lot
of nuances when it comes to immigration law and so that's why we always say hey let's talk about
it and let's strategize and let's come up with the best plan for each person individually. Permanent
residents can petition for their spouses, they can also petition for their minor children. Those two
are going to be in a certain category. Sometimes it's a little bit longer than US citizens so they
do have to get in line. It may not be as long of a line as other categories but sometimes there is a
wait time of one to three years just depending on the time that the petition is filed and what the
wait time is on the visa bulletin at that moment. Spouses and minor children. Residents can also
petition for their adult children but the key here is that they can only petition for adult children
so remember adult children is 21 and over if they're unmarried and so the key is always going
to be for those adult children to remain unmarried if they're planning on having their resident
parent petition for them. Again, there is going to be a wait time. There is going to be a line,
it might be a while but essentially a resident cannot petition for a married adult child.
It's one of those things again that we always are going to strategize about and decide it's best for
you to not get married at this point it's best for you to get married because maybe your spouse is a
US citizen there's always going to be ways that we can figure out what's the best option for you and
so this is one of the keys to remember is that residents cannot petition for married children.
If that does happen, if you do get married, at that point then you have to wait for the
parent to become a U.S citizen and so residents cannot petition for siblings,
they cannot petition for their parents. If any of those family members are thinking about being
petitioned or they're discussing this and they're figuring out when can we do this it's always going
to need to be once that person becomes a U.S citizen. One of the key things to remember,
residents you know can petition for their spouses minor children and adult unmarried children,
everybody else you're going to have to wait until you're actually a U.S citizen. One of
the questions we're always getting is also can my uncle petition for me, can my cousin petition
for me, can I petition for my grandchild, my aunt things like that. Unfortunately immigration does
not allow for those petitions, it has to be more of a direct familial line and we've discussed the
ones that U.S citizens and residents can petition for, other than that unfortunately there is no
direct petition that way. Sometimes we have to find a way through different family members or
having a chain reaction if someone petitions for a sibling then they then get married things
like that. There's always ways that we can try and figure it out and so again we will always
recommend discussing with an attorney just because sometimes we can figure out that chain event.
Thank you for those of you who are here watching and again, if you're watching us later on replay
again feel free to leave comments and please as always visit immigrationforcouples.com.
We're always going to have some resources on there and you can also schedule a consultation
with myself, with one of my attorneys, Megan, Desiree whoever it may be we're all an amazing
team we love working together and so always visit immigration for couples.com to find more
resources to find more answers and also to get in touch with us and again like and share this video
so that we can spread the word to other people who may also have questions like this one.
We always have them weekly. We have another one scheduled for tomorrow and so I look
forward to seeing you all tomorrow and I hope you have a great rest of your day