POSTING DATE: April 15, 2019
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Questions & Answers
This Week's Immigration News
Question: My parents immigrated to the states through my mom’s sister in 2014, but I was too old by that time, so the immigration said I could not come along with them. Once my mom got her green card she filed for me that same year. I am still single and anxious to join my parents in the U.S. as soon as possible. We were wondering if my mom becomes a us citizen will that make my case go faster?
Answer: The current waiting time for adult single sons and daughters of U.S. Citizens and Residents is about 7-8 years or so. The waiting line for single, adult children of U.S. Residents (F2B immigration category) is actually about a year shorter than that for single, adult children of U.S. Citizens (F1 immigration category). As a result, it’s best that you stay in the F2B line so you can immigrate faster. Since your mom filed your case in 2014, you likely would not be eligible to immigrate to the U.S. until about 2021. There is nothing that can be done to move your case faster. You are simply in a line, waiting for a visa because there are 7+ years worth of other adult single children of U.S. Residents waiting in the line ahead of you. You can call my office every now and then and I will let you know what the Visa Bulletin says and how much longer you will likely need to wait. I hope this was helpful to you.
Helpful Immigration Tips You Can Use...
Immigration News & Updates eNewsletter
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Last week Republican Senator Tom Cotton and several co-sponsors reintroduced the RAISE ACT (Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy) aimed at reducing legal immigration by eliminating so called family “Chain Immigration”, which allows U.S. Residents and U.S. Citizens to sponsor family members to immigrate to the U.S..
The RAISE Act would eliminate most family immigration and substitute it with a new “Merit-based” system.
Only spouses and minor children under age 21 would be eligible to immigrate.
Republicans Re-Introduce Legislation
To Eliminate Most Family Immigration
Tips On Sponsoring Family Members And How Long
It Will Take For Them To Immigrate To the U.S.
With the Republicans constant attacks on immigration, it’s more important than ever for Immigrants and sponsors to educate themselves about basic Immigration Issues.
I often get questions from U.S. Citizens and U.S. Residents alike about which family members they are eligible to sponsor, when they are allowed to initiate the process, how many family members can be sponsored at one time and how long it will be before their loved ones can immigrate to the U.S..
Marriage Immigration Residency Interviews, The Good, The Bad And the Ugly!
Difficulties In Obtaining Documents From the USCIS: Immigrants often do not recognize how important it is to maintain immigration documentation until there is a desperate need for critical documents which have been lost, stolen or destroyed.
Many Immigrants believe that the USCIS maintains complete files with visa, residency and citizenship information and approvals, which can be easily accessed once the need arises - and as logical as that is, it is incorrect.
Marriage residency cases can be very challenging, especially for couples who have not planned the immigration process well and properly documented their marital life together. This includes couples who live with family members, those who don’t have a joint bank account that they regularly use and those who don’t bring documents to the residency interview to prove that they live together as a married couple. For most marriage interviews, the USCIS officer brings the couple to his or her office, has them take an Oath swearing to tell the truth and then proceeds to verify official documentation including Driver’s Licenses, Passport, birth certificates, marriage certificate, divorce certificate if applicable, etc. Following that, the interviewer may ask the couple questions regarding their initial meeting, how long they dated prior to marriage, who proposed, whether they had a wedding ceremony, who attended the wedding, where did they buy the wedding rings, and so on.
While Democrats oppose this measure, some elements of the proposal might form the basis for a compromise between Republicans, Trump and Democrats, to provide permanent protection for DACA Dreamers, reform the current immigration system and perhaps even provide some type of limited amnesty in exchange for eliminating most family immigration categories. Under the proposal, all family sponsored immigration would be eliminated, including sponsorship for single adult children of U.S. Residents and U.S. Citizens (called F1 & F2B), married children of U.S. Citizens (called F3) and siblings (Brothers/Sisters) of U.S. Citizens, (called F4).
Only spouses and minor children could be sponsored by U.S. Residents and U.S. Citizens in the future. The RAISE Act would end green cards for parents of U.S. Citizens as well, instead providing a temporary visitor visa for parents whose U.S. Citizen children can show proof of health-care coverage and financial means to care for parents who would be barred from receiving any kind of public benefits or medical care.
The aim is for the officer to observe how the couple answers and interacts to get a feeling of whether the marriage seems real or not. After the questioning or even during it, the officer will generally want to see the couple’s marital documentation to prove they live together. This is where many couples fall short and make the process so much more complicated than it needs to be. Certain documents and lack thereof are red flags to a trained officer, including when a couple lives with relatives, does not have utility bills in either of their names, does not share a joint bank account, does not have a driver’s license with the current marital address on it, does not have joint auto insurance, etc..
In cases where a couple seems nervous, does not answer the questions naturally and fails to bring substantive marital documentation, perhaps only affidavits from friends and co-workers, many officers will not approve the case. Instead, they will send the couple a notice requesting them to provide additional documentation. If the couple provides some documents but not enough, the officer can reschedule them to return to the USCIS at a later date for a follow-up interview. During that next interview, when an officer suspects the marriage is fraudulent, he or she may simply take the U.S. Citizen spouse in to the office for questioning, tell the Citizen spouse if the marriage is fake he or she will need to withdraw the spousal application and not to tell the immigrant spouse about the withdrawal. In many cases, if the marriage is not real, the Citizen will withdraw the case and later the immigrant spouse will receive a denial in the mail, then later a Notice To Appear (NTA) for deportation.
When a couple has little documentation but continues to assert the marriage is genuine, the USCIS officer can conduct separate interviews with each spouse in order to determine if there are any inconsistencies in their statements. These interviews can be quite intense and include very detailed questions about the couple’s life together, living arrangements, finances, family and routines. Couples who do not really live together typically cannot answer such questions without inadvertently providing contradictory answers. If the couple clearly provides very similar information, the officer may approve the case, otherwise, the case will need to be reviewed for further action. In these cases, the officer may send the couple a request to provide more evidence to explain seemingly contradictory answers and if the response does not satisfy the officer, the case could well be denied.
The best advice for couples is to avoid the nightmare of multiple marital interviews in the first place, by taking steps from the beginning of their immigration process, which will make their journey much smoother and successful. In immigration, nothing is real to a USCIS officer unless you have a document to prove it, simple as that.
Here's some important tips about documents every couple should try to accumulate and provide to the USCIS during the interview and some sample marital questions which a couple should be prepared to answer in cases which the couple to be questioned separately:
Tips For A Successful Marriage Residency Case –
Marital Documents Are The Key!
Marriage residency cases can be very tough - even for those that are real! Commonly, couples navigating through marriage immigration process often find it daunting, unsure of the procedures, required documentation and timing involved. However, filing the case is just the start, the important part comes after that, in the time in between filing the case and the USCIS residency interview, when all the necessary marital documentation is established and compiled, in order to prove the legitimacy of the marriage.
Here are a few tips for couples representing themselves in the residency process:
1) Take the process very seriously – it’s better to be over prepared, rather than under prepared and delay the green card process
2) Do whatever it takes to have a joint marital bank account that both spouses use on a daily basis (not just a saving account). Never use separate bank accounts and always pay utilities, rent and other expenses from bank funds, not cash.
3) Don’t go paperless! I love trees and the environment, but the USCIS could care less, they want to see marital bills, statements and invoices with joint names or at least separate bills for each spouse going to the same marital address
4) Have a lease with both spouses’ names and pay rent from your joint account (even if you live with relative – which you should not!)
5) Always do your tax return married filing jointly, don’t file head of household just to get more money back from the IRS, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Do you want a Green Card or a little more money?
6) Split the utility bills, get several in the U.S. Citizen spouse’s name and several for the foreign national spouse
7) Get joint car insurance, don’t stay on your parents policy, really, you are married, act like it!
8) Make sure both spouses Driver’s Licenses are at the same marital address
9) Take lots of pictures with family and friends in different occasions.
These are just the bottom line documents the USCIS officer is looking for. However, the more marital documents, the better, like joint car registration, joint health insurance, joint cell phone plan, fitness club family plan, etc, etc. The more documents a couple brings to their USCIS interview, the faster the case will be approved. Couples who get stuck somewhere in the process can always give me a call and I will try to steer them in the right direction.
General Advice For Your Marriage Immigration Interview
& Sample Interview Questions
The sample questions below are just samples, since the USCIS officer can ask you anything at all about your relationship, marriage and life together. Important to remember, do not ever volunteer information. For most questions, the shorter and more direct the answers are, the shorter the interview and the higher the chance of success. If the question is a yes or no question, give yes or no answers only. If the question is a simple question like "What is your name?" answer simply with your name. Volunteering information and saying things out of nervousness can often be detrimental to a case and bring up problem issues that would otherwise not need to be dealt with or explained.
Stay calm and listen carefully. If you don’t fully understand the question, ask the Officer to repeat it, don’t ever guess. If you do not know the answer to a question, do not lie. Say, "I don't know the answer to that " or "I don't remember.". It’s ok to say you are nervous.
Sample Marriage Residency Interview Questions
Be prepared to remember recent events from the past few days before the interview, including the day of the interview:
-How did you get to this interview, car, bus, who did you come with, who’s car?
-Who cooked dinner last night?
-What did you have for dinner last night?
-Who woke up first this morning?
-Where did you park the car this morning?
-How many cars do you have?
-Officer can ask couple to show the key to their apartment/home and mailbox key to compare
-Officer can ask couple for password to phone to look at cell phone pics and txts to see if the couple has pictures with each other and are they texting with each other.
Questions About Your Courtship Period
Reflect on the history of your relationship. Be prepared to portray your journey from initial meeting to marriage. First date, subsequent meetings, important events, happy moments, sad moments, disagreements, times spent together, times spent with each other’s family and friends, special gifts, proposal, acceptance, sharing the news with family and friends, etc
1. Who introduced you to your spouse?
2. When and where did you meet the first time?
3. Could you describe the first meeting?
4. Where were you living at the time? Where was your spouse living?
5. Who was your spouse living with when you met?
6. Did you exchange phone numbers and/or email addresses?
7. Did you make arrangements to meet again?
8. When did you next meet?
9. Where did you and your spouse go on your second date?
10. What did the two of you have in common?
11. What attracted you to your spouse?
12. Where did you go for dates?
13. When did your relationship turn romantic?
14. When did you decide to get married? Where were you at the time?
15.How long was it before you decided to get married?
16. Who proposed to whom?
17. Did you give your spouse a ring when you proposed?
18. Why did you decide to have a long (or short) engagement?
19. Did you live together before marriage?
20. Did your parents approve of the match? Why or Why not?
Questions About Your Wedding
Be prepared to answer questions about the wedding ceremony, reception, guests, interesting or embarrassing events, if any, that happened during the ceremony or reception, what was served, how guests were entertained, did the wedding ceremony have a theme, who wrote the vows, who purchased the rings - how and where, who paid for the ceremony, honeymoon plans, etc.
1. What is the date of your marriage?
2. What day of the week did you get married?
3. Where was the wedding held?
4. How did you and your spouse get to the church, temple, mosque, courthouse etc.?
5. Did you exchange wedding rings? Did you and your spouse purchase them together or separately?
6. Is he/she wearing her wedding ring right now?
7. Who were the bridesmaids/groomsmen?
8. Did each of your parents attend the wedding?
9. Did any of your, and your spouses, family members attend? If so, who?
10. Who were the witnesses to the ceremony?
11. How many people attended your wedding?
12. How late did the guests stay at the wedding?
13. Did you have a reception after the ceremony?
14. Could you please describe the reception?
15. Was there music or other entertainment?
16. Did the bride change clothes for the reception?
17. What kind of cake or other food was served?
18. Did you serve the liquor? What kind?
19. Did anyone get drunk or otherwise embarrass themselves at the reception? Who? Describe.
20. What time did you and the [bride or groom] leave the reception?
21. If you didn’t have a reception, what did you do after the wedding ceremony?
22. Could you please show me any photos of the wedding ceremony and/or reception?
23. Did you go on a honeymoon? When did you leave? How did you get there? Where did you go? For how long? What airlines?
24. How many days did you spend on your honeymoon?
25. What date did you and your spouse leave for your honeymoon?
26. What date did you and your spouse return from your honeymoon?
27. Did you get married to get into the US? Did you pay your spouse to get married or make any other deals?
28. Why do you think your spouse wants to come to the US? Are you worried that s/he married you for a green card?
29. What are your concerns about being married to someone from another culture?
30. Do you think that your relationship will work?
31. Do you trust your spouse?
32. Where did you live after the wedding?
Questions About Your Living Conditions
Be prepared to answer questions relating to your present and past residences where you have lived together, including furniture and appliances, automobiles you have or had, type of residence, how big or small, number of rooms, neighbors, and visitors. Also be prepared to answer questions about job details, work schedules and working conditions, earnings, joint-spending, investments, tax filings, joint bank accounts, financial dealings, mortgages, future plans etc.
If the USCIS officer suspects fraud he or she will go into much more detail. If this is the case you may also be asked to draw a sketch of a particular room or portion of your residence. Sometimes you may also be asked to show your house keys and tell what keys go to each door.
1. Describe the place where you lived right after the marriage? Number of bedrooms and bathrooms; furnishings; color of walls, floor covering, appliances, etc; type of air conditioning (window or central), heating (gas or electrical), etc; number of telephones, TV sets etc.
2. Where do you live now?
3. How long have you been staying at the current address?
4. Do you live in a home (single family, condominium, townhouse) or apartment? How much is the mortgage or rent? Who pays it? When is it paid?
If you live in an apartment or condominium:
1. What floor do you live on?
2. What compass direction does the front door face?
3. How many keys do you need to go from the street to the apartment?
5. What date did you sign the lease?
6. When does the lease expire?
7. Does the complex have a pool?
8. Where is the mailbox located, in a central place or in front of your door for example?
9. If you live in a house, what day is garbage day?
10. Who takes the garbage out generally?11. How many people are living with you and your spouse?
12. Who are your neighbors?
13. Is your sofa a regular one or does it have a pull-out bed? If later, have you ever had guests sleep there?
14. What size is your bed (twin, queen, king)?
15. Do you have a regular mattress, futon or waterbed?
16. Do you have lamps next to your bed?
17. Where do you keep your clothes? Where does your spouse keep his/her clothes?
18. How many closets are in the apartment?
19. On what side of the closet does your spouse hang his/her clothes?
20. What color are the curtains in your house?
21. What type of curtains or window coverings are in your living room? What color?
22. Is there a carpet in your front hallway? What color?
23. How many staircases are in your house?
24. How many cars do you have?
25. Do you have a garage? How many cars fit into it? Who parks in it? Do you use a garage door opener?
26. Who keeps the garage door opener in the car?
27. What color are the kitchen curtains?
28. Do you have a barbecue grill? Do you use it? Is it gas or charcoal?
29. Where is the garbage kept in the kitchen?
30. Do you use bottled or a water filtration system? If so, describe it.
31. Does the refrigerator make ice or do you use ice trays?
32. Describe the refrigerator doors side by side and top to bottom.
33. Where do you keep your toothbrushes?
34. Where are the bathroom towels kept?
35. Where do you keep the dirty clothes?
36. How many sinks, toilets, and showers are there in your house/apartment in total?
37. Do you have a bathtub or a shower?
38. Do you have a shower curtain or shower door?
39. When sitting on the toilet bowl, where is the toilet paper situated? (Left, Right, Front?)
40. Do you hang the clothes on a line or do you use a dryer?
41. Where is the clothes line located?
42. How many remote controls are there in your house?
43. How may TV sets are in your house? In which rooms?
44. Do you have cable TV or satellite dish?
45. Who is the cable/dish provider in your house?
46. Do you have a still camera? Is that a digital camera or one with film?
47. Who uses the camera most often?
48. Do you have a camcorder? What brand is it?
49. Who takes pictures at important family occasions or during sightseeing?
50. How many telephones are in your house? Where are they?
51. Is the telephone a cordless or corded telephone?
52. What color is the telephone?
53. Do both of you have cell phones? Do you have a family plan on the phones?
54. Does your phone have an answering machine? Who checks the messages?
55. Do you have a VCR? What brand? Do you use it only to watch videos, or do you record any TV shows?
56. Do you have a DVD player? What brand?
57. Where do you work?
58. What days of the week do you work? What hours do you work?
59. What is your annual salary?
60. What’s your spouse’s educational background?
61. If your spouse has a college degree, when and where did he/she acquire it?
62. Where does your spouse work?
63. What is your spouse’s position at the job?
64. What are your spouse’s working hours?
65. What days of the week does your spouse work?
66. What is your phone number at work?
67. What is your spouse’s phone number at work?
68. Do you know your spouse’s salary? If yes, how much is it?
69. When is your spouse paid?
70. Which of your financial matters are shared, or who supports the other financially?
71. Who takes care of paying the bills?
72. Do you write checks for paying the bills or online billing?
73. Did you file a joint tax return this year? Can I see the copy of it?
74. Do you jointly own any property? If yes, can I see the copies of the documents?
75. Do you have an insurance policy listing your spouse as the beneficiary? If yes, can I see copy of the same?
76. Do you have any utility bills where both of you are listed together?
77. Do you have receipts from items you have purchased together?
78. Do you have any joint bank accounts? Where? What kind of accounts (checking, savings, money market etc.)?
79. Are both of you listed on the account? As proof, do you have a bank letter or cancelled checks?
80. Does your spouse have bank accounts without you? If yes, what is the name of the Bank?
Questions About Your Lifestyle and Habits
Be prepared to answer questions about each others general habits, lifestyle, preferences, daily routines, schedules, household chores, favorite pastimes – individual and together, holidays spent together, specific rituals that you follow, shopping habits, food habits, sleeping habits, religious routines, etc.
1. Do you set up the alarm clock to get up in the morning?
2. Who gets up first? At what time?
3. Who does most of the cooking?
4. Who makes breakfast?
5. What does your spouse drink in the morning? (Such as coffee, tea, milk etc.) If so, does he/she use cream and/or sugar?
6. What do each of you eat for breakfast?
7. Who cleans the house?
8. What are the garbage pick up days?
9. Who goes grocery shopping? Where? How often? How do you get there?
10. What kind of toothpaste, soap, and shampoo do each of you use?
11. Does your spouse use a regular toothbrush or an electric one?
12. Do you have any pets? Which ones (such as dog, cat, fish etc.)? Who feeds it? Who walks it or cleans its cage, kitty litter box etc?
13. Is your spouse taking any medication? What are the names of the medication? What condition requires that medication?
14. What are your working hours?
15. What time do you or your spouse arrive home (whoever is working)?
16. How does your spouse get home from work?
17. How often and what time do you call each other by phone?
18. When was the last day both of you were together? Describe in detailed chronological order what both of you did that day.
19. What is a typical weekend for you and your spouse?
20. What are your favorite foods and who cooks what?
21. What is your spouse’s most (or least) favorite food?
22. Is there a particular food that you eat every week? What is it?
23. How many times a week on average do you eat out?
24. What is your special restaurant?
25. What is your spouse’s favorite sport?
26. What is your spouse’s favorite team?
27. Have you ever been to a game with your spouse? If yes, when did you attend?
28. Does your spouse drink?
29. What is your spouse’s favorite beer?
30. What is your spouse’s favorite cigarette?
31. What is your spouse’s favorite color?
32. What is your spouse’s favorite movie?
33. Does your spouse listen to the radio? What station?
34. Does your spouse listen to music? What kind of equipment does he/she have such as walkman, iPod etc?
35. Do you watch TV shows together, or separately?
35. Name one TV show that you always watch together.
36. Where do you rent movies from?
37. What religious holidays do you celebrate together?
38. Do you and/or your spouse attend regular religious services? Where?
39. What is the most important holiday of the year in your household? Where do you typically celebrate it?
40. What did you do for Christmas, New Year, your anniversary? Did you exchange gifts? If so, what kind of gift?
41. How did you celebrate your most recent wedding anniversary?
42. What did you do for your spouse’s last birthday?
43. What did you give each other for your last birthdays?
44. Have you and your spouse gone to see a movie (or any other form of entertainment) lately? When and what did you see?
45. When was your last vacation? Did you and your spouse go anywhere together at that time?
46. Do you have the photos from your last vacation together?
47. What do you like best about the other? The least about each other?
48. When was your last argument – time, day, place, subject? Who started the argument? How was it resolved?
49. What time do you and your spouse go to bed in the evening?
50. Who sleeps on each side of the bed?
51. Do either of you read or watch television before going to sleep?
52. Do you leave any lights on when you go to sleep at night?
53. Does your spouse snore?
54. What kind of birth control do you use? What brand do you use?
55. When was your wife’s last menstrual period?
56. When did you last kiss your wife and vice-versa-where, what location, and what time of day?
57. Does your spouse have any piercing? Where are they?
58. Do you and/or your spouse have any scars or tattoos? If yes, where on the body?
USCIS Announces It Has Received Enough H-1B Regular
And Master’s Cap Cases For This Year’s Lottery
On April 5th, 2019, the USCIS announced that it had received a sufficient number of H-1B work visa petitions to reach the 65,000 H-1B visa regular cap and 20,000 H-1B visa U.S. advanced degree exemption, known as the master’s cap for fiscal year 2020 (which begins on Oct 1, 2019). The USCIS has begun rejecting excess applications and will return all H-1B application packages and filing fees for all cases which are not selected in the H-1B lottery.
Question: I am a citizen and my boyfriend will graduate with his masters from college in Miami in june. We were wondering if we need to wait until he graduates before we can get married and file his immigration papers or can we do it now? Will it mess up anything with his student visa if we do? Also, is it valid if we get married at the courthouse or do we have to have the wedding ceremony first? Do you have a list of the marriage license office that we can get so we can contact them to find out what we need to bring? Sorry to ask you so many questions but we have an appointment with you next week and we want to find out some information ahead of time.
Answer: No problem, that is why we are here! To be validly married, you must: 1) get your marriage license and either 2) have your civil marriage ceremony performed at the clerk’s office, or 3) have a religious clergy member or notary perform the ceremony. The quickest way is usually to get your marriage license and have your ceremony performed at the clerk’s office at the same time. You can always have your religious ceremony later, without delaying the filing of your husband’s immigration petition. Once you are married, we can file your new husband’s residency petition right away. However, first, he needs to have a medical exam performed by a doctor authorized by the USCIS, so we can include his medical report in the immigration package when filing. I will email you the link to find authorized doctors in your area. Since your boyfriend entered the U.S. legally, he can stay here in the U.S. legally during his entire Residency process. Once the case is filed, he will receive his work authorization and social security card in about six months, then he can work and obtain his Driver’s License. It will then take about a year or so more for you both to be scheduled for your marriage residency interview and then he should receive his Green Card in about a week after that.
Here are the contacts for several South Florida Marriage License websites:
Broward Marriage Licences
Miami-Dade Marriage Licenses
Palm Beach Marriage Licenses
Question: My American husband filed for me and I got my work permit late last year in oct good for one year. But the problem is that I lost the card and we turned the house and car up side down and cant find it anywhere. I need to get a new one. I want to know if I apply for another one if I have to pay again or not?
Answer: When an Immigrant files the form I-485 to adjust to U.S. Residency, the USCIS filing fee is $1,760, which includes both the form I-765 for work authorization and form I-131 for Advance Parole (travel permit). That filing fee includes all work authorization and travel permit renewals. However, it does not include work or travel permit replacements, when the original permits are still valid. If you need to file for a replacement, you’ll need to include a new USCIS filing fee of $495, ($410 filing fee plus $85 biometrics fee) with your application. However, since your work permit was issued in October 2018, its time to renew it anyway (six months before it expires), so you can file for a RENEWAL (not replacement), send the application along with a copy of your I-485 receipt and two passport photos. It can take up to five to six months to receive your renewal card.
Here’s how it works:
U.S. Citizens are eligible to sponsor:
1) Spouses, Minor Children and Parents (called "Immediate Relatives")
2) Adult Single Sons & Daughters (and their minor children) F1,
3) Adult Married Sons & Daughters (and their spouses and minor children) called F3
4) Brothers & Sisters (and their spouses and minor children) called F4.
U.S. Residents are eligible to sponsor:
1) Spouses and Minor Children called F2A and
2) Adult Single Sons & Daughters (and their minor children) called F2B.
U.S. Residents cannot sponsor their Parents, Adult Married Sons & Daughters or their Brothers & Sisters. If a child who has been sponsored by a Resident marries before the parent becomes a U.S. Citizen, the Immigration case is automatically cancelled, even if the child later divorces.
Waiting Times For Family Members in all Countries (except Mexico/India & Philippines where waiting times are often much longer):
1) Immediate Relatives (Spouses, Minor Children and Parents of U.S. Citizens), there is no waiting line, just USCIS and consular processing time (approx 8-12 months).
2) F1 - Adult Single Sons & Daughters of U.S. Citizens, the waiting line is approx 8 years,
3) F3 -Adult Married Sons & Daughters of U.S. Citizens, the waiting line is approx 12 years,
4) F4 -Brothers & Sisters of U.S. Citizens , the waiting line is approx 14 years,
5) F2A -Spouses and Minor Children of U.S. Residents, the waiting line is approx 2 years and
6) F2B -Adult Single Sons & Daughters of U.S. Residents, the waiting line is approx 7 years.
Under current Immigration regulations, once an Immigrant receives U.S. Residency, (even Conditional Residency through marriage), and similarly when a Resident becomes Naturalized, they are eligible to sponsor any and all family members in any of the qualifying categories. There is no limit on the number of family members which can be sponsored at the same time. For instance, a U.S. Citizen can sponsor an adult, single daughter, a married son and 3 sisters and 2 brothers all at the same time. However, due to the difference in waiting times, each family member be immigrating at different times, depending upon the Family Immigration category. Trump and Congressional Immigration reforms in the future may limit the type and amount of family members allowed to immigrate to the U.S., but for now, the number is limitless, so don’t wait until it is too late.
Finally, in most cases, family members in the F-1 – F4 categories above must be in legal Immigration status (unexpired I-94) in order be eligible to adjust status to residency in the U.S.. Those filing for adjustment who are not in legal status will be denied and likely put in deportation under a Trump presidency, so get professional advice before filing any residency case! Waivers are available (very difficult to get) which allow family members who are out of status to obtain residency through consular processing, but not through adjustment of status in the U.S.
Immigration How To:
How Do I Get A Copy Of My Immigration Approval Notice?
In fact, obtaining copies of immigration documentation can take up to six months or more through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and there is no guarantee that copies of all documents filed with the USCIS will be received. For instance, a FOIA request will not allow you to obtain copies of Receipts and Approval Notices, generally only copies of an immigration applications and supporting documentation. In order to obtain a duplicate copy of an Approval Notice, Form I-824 must be filed for each Approval Notice requested with a $465 filing fee for each one! Further, it can also take up to six months to receive the requested duplicate.
Copies of immigration receipts, notices and I-94 cards are important because in most immigration cases filed for U.S. Residency, Citizenship and family petitions for relatives, the USCIS requires that documentation to establish qualification is submitted along with the application. For instance, when a U.S. Citizen has filed a family petition for a relative and the relative is now filing for a Green Card (adjustment of status), he or she is required to provide the USCIS with a copy of the I-130 Receipt/Approval Notice along with the Green Card application, showing that the relative petition was approved. However, if the Receipt/Approval Notice has been lost, the USCIS does not automatically obtain the relevant information from its files. Instead, it issues a “Request For Evidence” directing the applicant to provide that documentation with a deadline of 87 days to do so. In such cases, the immigrant must file Form I-824 to obtain a duplicate of the required notice and wait until it has been received. In cases where the I-824 processing exceeds the 87 day deadline, the USCIS can deny the entire case for failure to respond to the request. The immigrant can send a copy of the I-824 Notice of Action receipt in response to the request, asking for additional time to respond, however, there is no guarantee that the extension of time will actually be granted.
Another example is that of the all important I-94 (Arrival/Departure) card, which establishes that an immigrant entered the U.S. legally. In most cases, many immigration benefits are unavailable to individuals who are not able to provide a copy of their I-94 card to the USCIS at the time of application. In such cases, Form I-102 to obtain a duplicate I-94 must be filed with a $445 filing fee!
Similar situations occur when naturalization certificates are lost or destroyed, however processing times for duplicates can take up to one year or more.
Final note, the sooner lost documents are replaced, the better. At this time in history, lack of documentation may affect one's ability to drive, to travel, or to demonstrate the ability to work legally in the U.S., so protect your status, by keeping your immigration documents safe!
