fbpx
Family-Based Immigration

Central Florida Family Immigration Attorneys

Professional Family Petition Assistance

Reuniting your family in the United States will involve obtaining family petition approved and a lawful permanent residence card for noncitizen loved ones. This will allow you to live and work in the United States. Lawful permanent residents can apply to become permanent U.S. citizens after waiting 5 years.
To speak with one of our family immigration attorneys contact us online or call
407-710-9026 today!
Current U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents can sponsor certain types of relatives for lawful permanent resident cards. Our immigration lawyers at Central Florida Immigration Attorneys can assist you and your loved ones throughout this complex process. We are very familiar with how to successfully file family petitions. We will help you understand who is eligible, the steps that follow and how the immigration process works.

Family Petitions for Immediate Relatives

The speed at which one can obtain a lawful permanent resident card through family-based immigration is based on the petitioner’s relationship with their loved one, the beneficiary’s country of origin, and whether the petitioner is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

There are different family petitions: Immediate Relatives and Preference Relatives

I. Immediate Relatives Consist of:

  • Spouses of U.S. citizens
  • Parents of U.S. citizens that are at least 21 years old
  • Unmarried children of U.S. citizens that are under the age of 21
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) places no annual limit on the number of lawful permanent resident cards it is willing to issue to immediate relatives. There are also no caps based on a beneficiary’s country of origin if they are petitioned as an immediate relative.

This means that immediate relatives will not face additional wait times for a visa to become available after their petition is initially processed. Once USCIS reviews and adjudicates their application, the immediate relatives can move to adjust their immigration status inside the United States or through a consular process outside of the U.S. Consular processing will take place abroad at a U.S. embassy or consular office. An adjustment of status must be requested if you are currently in the United States.

Benefit from our 20 years of combined legal experience. Schedule an initial consultation by calling
407-710-9026 or contacting us online.

II. Family Petitions for Preference Relatives

Under the preference relatives category, lawful permanent residents can sponsor their spouses, parents, and unmarried children.

U.S. citizens can additionally sponsor children 21 years old and up, married children, and siblings.

Preference relatives are subject to an overall annual visa cap as well as caps placed on individual countries of origin. This means that beneficiaries petitioning from certain countries, such as India, China, Mexico, and the Philippines, may experience longer waits than those applying from countries with lower immigration volumes.

USCIS only allocates 226,000 preference relative visas each year and distributes them across the following preference categories:

  • Category 1. Unmarried adult children (over the age of 21) of U.S. citizens.
  • Category 2A. Spouses and unmarried children under the age of 21 of Lawful Permanent residents.
  • Category 2B. Unmarried adult children (over the age of 21) of lawful permanent residents.
  • Category 3. Married children of U.S. citizens.
  • Category 4. Siblings of U.S. citizens.
Note that lawful permanent residents cannot sponsor their siblings or married children of any age. Grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, cousins, or in-laws cannot be sponsored by U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.

Once USCIS receives and reviews a family petition, a preference relative will receive a priority date. They will not be able to proceed with an adjustment of status or consular processing until their priority date becomes “current.” This means that preference relatives must wait until a visa becomes available under their preference category.

Depending on a beneficiary’s country of origin, applicants may face waits of multiple years or more before their priority date becomes current, normally refered to as visa bulletin. Applicants from Mexico and the Philippines currently face waiting times over 10 years in some subcategories.

Our CFIA family and immigration attorneys will always be transparent and forthright about waiting times associated with preference relative petitions. We understand how to read the Visa Bulletin and can assess what sort of wait you may need to anticipate before initiating the process.

After a visa becomes available, preference relatives will either request an adjustment of status if they are currently in the United States or go through the consular processing appointment if they are abroad. Consular processing includes application of affidavit of support, visa application and an in-person interview with a USCIS official.

Reach out our Orlando family immigration lawyers online or by calling 407-710-9026 today!

Removing Conditions on a Marriage Lawful Permanent Resident Card

If you obtained your lawful permanent resident through marriage, you may receive a “conditional” lawful permanent resident card that expires after 2 years. Before 2 years expire, if your marriage was less than 2 years old when your lawful permanent resident card was issued, you will automatically receive a conditional lawful permanent resident card. You will need to apply to “remove conditions” in order to protect your status and procure a 10-year lawful permanent resident card. In the meantime, you will have all the rights and benefits of a conditional permanent resident.

USCIS remains concerned about the prospect of marriage fraud. To secure a lawful permanent resident card in the first place, you will need to have demonstrated that your marriage is genuine. The agency will again inspect the legitimacy of your marriage when it comes time to remove conditions on your residence.

As a general rule, you must jointly petition with your spouse to remove the conditions on your residence within the 90-days before your lawful permanent resident card expires. Should your spouse be unavailable as a result of divorce, death, or domestic violence, you may be able to file and to remove conditions with a waiver.

In many cases, USCIS will require that you participate in another in-person interview that assesses the veracity of your marriage. You will be expected to provide new evidence that establishes the evolution of your relationship. Once USCIS is satisfied, they will approve your request to remove the conditions, and you will be issued a lawful permanent resident card that is valid for 10 years. You will not have to prove the legitimacy of your marriage again.

Pursuing Citizenship After Getting Your Lawful Permanent Resident Card

Receiving a lawful permanent resident card through family-based immigration process represents a tremendous milestone that will mean reuniting with your loved ones. Becoming a lawful permanent resident entitles you to several powerful benefits as well as certain important responsibilities.

With a lawful permanent resident card, you can:

  • Live and work anywhere in the United States
  • Sponsor certain preference relatives for lawful permanent resident card
  • Easily travel in and out of the country
  • Become eligible for U.S. citizenship after 3 to 5 years, depending on how you obtained your lawful permanent resident card.
Keep in mind that lawful permanent residents can get deported under certain circumstances. You must follow all local, state, and federal laws and not be convicted of a deportable offense. lawful permanent resident card also do expire and must be renewed before hand.

If you are interested in becoming a permanent U.S. citizen after receiving your lawful permanent resident card, you must first wait several years as part of a mandatory waiting period. If you received your lawful permanent resident card through marriage and continue to be married to the same spouse, you need to only wait 3 years. If you obtained a lawful permanent resident card through any other relative, you will have to wait at least 5 years. During this time, you will need to comply with continuous and physical presence rules, which set limits on how often and for how long you can travel abroad.

Our immigration lawyers at Central Florida Immigration Attorneys can help you understand your responsibilities as a lawful permanent resident and protect your ability to pursue U.S. citizenship. One of our lead attorney’s as a former immigration services officer adjudicator give us unique insight into every aspect of the U.S. immigration system. We understand what is at stake with every immigration case and will do everything possible to guide you move through the process as efficiently as possible.

Contact us online or call
407-710-9026 to learn more about how we can assist you with family-based immigration. We offer our legal services in English and Spanish.

Take an Inside Look at Our Clients’ Immigration Journey