Family-Based U.S. Immigration

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The U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA") authorizes either U.S. citizens or U.S. lawful permanent residents (i.e. "green card holders") to petition for certain qualified family members.

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Therefore, as a preliminary step, it must be determined whether there is a qualifying relationship, which would allow a U.S. citizen or U.S. lawful permanent resident to submit an immigrant visa petition to allow his or her family member to immigrate to the United States.  

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Assuming there is such a qualifying relationship, the U.S. citizen or U.S. lawful permanent resident would then be eligible to submit an immigrant visa petition. However, this is only the beginning of the process.  For the U.S. citizen, there are a few different ways he or she can petition for his or her family member to immigrant to the United States.  Therefore, the U.S. citizen must then determine the type of petition he or she will submit so that his or her family member may immigrate to the United States (i.e. a I-130, K-1, or K-3 visa petition).

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Furthermore, even if there is a qualfying relationship, this does not mean that the U.S. citizen or family member has a "right" in the strict sense for his or her family member to be able to immigrate to the United States.  U.S. Immigration law is clear that U.S. citizens or U.S. lawful permanent residents do not have an absolute right for qualifying family members (even a spouse or child) to immigrate to the United States. 

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If you are a U.S. citizen or U.S. lawful permanent resident and have a family member or fiancé(e) that you wish to petition to immigrate to the United States, please do not hesitate to contact my office to discuss possible immigration options.

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