Brothers and Sisters of U. S Citizens May Obtain Green Cards within 3-5 Years under F-4 Category Instead of Long Waiting Periods

Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law, Dallas

Many people become permanent residents (Green card) through family members. The United States promotes family unity and allows U.S. citizens and permanent residents (Green Card Holders) to petition for certain relatives to come and live permanently in the United States. Your family members may be eligible to get a green card through a family member who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident without waiting for 10-15 years as it used to be. This is very much true in the case of F-4 category (brothers and sisters of U. S citizens) which has got a waiting period of about 10 years from India now. For the past about s six month or the priority date if moving about 3-4 months every month, which means in order to move one year it takes only about 3-4 months. In the past the priority date use to move only about 10-15 days per months which means in order to move one month it use to take 2-3 months and for one year it use to take about 1-3 years, hence the waiting of about 10-15 years.

Your relatives are eligible to get a green card as an immediate relative or as a family member in a preference category if you are a U.S. citizen relative and file a Form I-130, Petition for Alien Relative, for you. Your relatives are an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen if they are:
· The child (unmarried and under 21 years old) of a U.S. citizen
· The spouse (husband or wife) of a U.S. citizen
· The parent of a U.S. citizen (if the U.S. citizen is 21 years or older)

If your relative is a family member of you who is a U.S. citizen, in a preference category if they are:
· An unmarried son or daughter (21 years or older) of a U.S. citizen
· A married son or daughter (any age) of a U.S. citizen
· A sibling (brother or sister) of a U.S. citizen
Your relative is a family member of a permanent resident in a preference category if they are:
· The spouse of a permanent resident
· The child (unmarried and under 21 years old) of permanent resident
· The unmarried son or daughter (21 years or older) of a permanent resident
You relative may also be eligible to get a green card if they fall in one of the categories:
· Are a battered child or spouse of a U.S. citizen
· Entered the United States with a K visa as the fiancé(e) or spouse of a U.S. citizen or an accompanying child
· Obtained V nonimmigrant status
· Are a widow(er) of a U.S. citizen
· Are born to a foreign diplomat in the United States

When you file an immigrant petition for your relatives or siblings, you will be issued with a receipt which has a receipt date, which is your priority date. The eligibility for visas will be decided on the basis of the priority date, which means after filing the petition and its approval your relatives or siblings in preference category will be waiting in line for visa eligibility. Once the immigrant petition is approved, the file will be transferred to National Visa Center (NVC), it processes all papers works and even schedules interview in the consulate. The NVC is the main office of all U. S Consulates around the world. Under these new processing procedures, the applicants for visas need to only obtain the medical report and appear for interview with their passports. There is no waiting period or priority date for immediate relatives of U. S citizens. The waiting period for spouses and unmarried children under 21 of permanent residents is only about two years from India, which also uses to be about 4-5 years in the past. There is also a proposal pending in the Congress to make the spouses and children under 21 of Green Card holders as immediate relatives so that they do not need to wait in line and they can immigrate immediately. If a Green Card holder marries from India, under the present circumstances the spouses can immigrate to United States within 2-3 years along with the children under 21 who are unmarried.

If we look at the history of the priority date movement since 1980s in category F-4 we can see that the waiting period is doubling every ten year. During the 1980 the waiting period under F-4 category was only about 3-4 years. During the 1990s the waiting period under F-4 category was increased to 6-7 years and during the 2000s it has been increased to 10-12 years. The reason for this long waiting period is that there are only about 65,000 visas are allotted to all countries in the world under F-4 category. India being one of the countries along with Philippines, China, and Mexico from where more immigrants are coming to United States has more people waiting in line. The quota remains the same all these years, but the number of applicants is increasing, hence the waiting period is increasing.

For unknown reasons beginning January 2009 the F-4 category is moving an average of about 2-3 months. Very recently it is moving about 3-4 months every month. If that trend continues those who are waiting in line will be eligible for visas within next 2-3 years. If that trend continues again after 2-3 years, those who are filing new immigrant petitions for their brothers and sisters now, they can obtain immigrant visas within 2-3 years after the present waiting period is over. In other words, if you are a U. S citizen and never filed for your siblings to immigrate to United States, this is the time to file the petitions for them. You should be very careful in filing the immigrant petitions since the rules have changed and you need to have proper documents to prove the relationship between you and your siblings. If not, the petition will be denied without even issuing a request for additional evidence (RFE) under the new RFE rules since it requires primary eligibility documents to be filed with the immigrant petition.
There are two distinct paths through which you can get your green card. Many family members who are already in the United States may qualify for adjustment of status to permanent residence in the United States, which means they are able to complete their immigrant processing without having to return to their home country. Those relatives outside the United States or those who are not eligible to adjust status in the United States may be eligible for consular processing through a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad that has jurisdiction over their foreign place of residence. In order to be eligible to adjust status the applicants must be grand fathered under section 245(i) of the INA by having an immigrant petition or labor certification filed for them on or before April 30, 2001 and the principal applicant should be physically present in United States as of Dec. 21, 2000. If the applicant is not qualified to adjust by having grand fathered, then if the applicant leaves for consular processing there will be 3/10 year to obtain any immigrant visas under a separate rule.

Disclaimer: Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law does not claim authorship for above referenced information. Lal Varghese, Attorney at Law or the publisher is not responsible or liable for anything stated above, since it is generalized information about the subject matters collected from various sources including Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, State Department, Federal Register, and American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Advocacy Center, and other legal sources. For individual cases and specific questions you are advised to consult an attorney of your choice or contact the agencies mentioned above. You may visit our website at: http://www.indiaimmigrationusa.com/ or http://www.indiaimmigrationusa.blogspot.com/ for more information about other related immigration matters.