FULL TRANSCRIPT
[The following is the full transcript of the blog video: Who Can You Petition For and How as Part of the U.S Immigration Process?]
Hello, this is Erick Widman, I’m an Immigration Lawyer. And I’m going to be breaking down for you, the different individuals, the types of people you can petition for in the family immigration context, business, immigration is a different video. Today we’re going to talk about which family members can petition for you or you can you petition for. There are two main categories to start with. The first group of people is called immediate relatives. And they are the individuals that are closest in relation to you, according to the US government, and are given the most favorable status in terms of processing time. So I like to think of the immediate relatives in kind of a directional way, your parents, your spouse, or your kids up, middle and down. So your parent, your spouse, or your child is an immediate relative. And when you file a petition for one of those people, it just doesn’t take as long as some of the other categories what are called preference categories. In the preference relative realm, you’ve got four different main groups of people. So here on my list, I’ve got those broken down here, first preference category, the unmarried son or daughter, which means you’re over 21, of a US citizen. So that word son or daughter has a specific legal meaning it’s a term of art. As they say, that means you’re over 21. So you’re a child, still, if you’re under 21. But if you have a son or daughter, who is over 21, and you’re a US citizen, that means that there is a category for you, for you to petition for that family member for that son or daughter. And it’s called the f1 f1 first preference category, second preference category. Remember, these are not the immediate relatives, there’s a preference category relatives, you got to a so there’s two subsections, two a and two B, spouses and children have a green card holder. So if you are a permanent resident of the US, and you petition for your spouse, the category you’re petitioning in is to a or if you’re a green card holder, and you’re petitioning for your child, who’s under 21, by definition, that’s possible and to a to b is your unmarried son or daughter of a if you’re a permanent resident, or otherwise known as a lawful permanent resident or LPR. You can petition for them in the two B category, which is typically taking longer than the two way category. important note there is no category for married sons and daughters of lawful permanent residence. So it’s a weird and unfortunate marriage penalty that’s built into our US immigration system. Okay, third preference category, married sons and daughters of US citizens. So you do get married, but you have to have a US citizenship petitioner to bring in petition for that married son or daughter. Finally a fourth preference. Brothers and sisters, the least favored category, at least there is an option for them, although several immigration pressure groups and and even the Trump administration has talked about removing this category altogether, it could go away. Brothers and sisters siblings just are not given as much love as the other categories.
