Immigration and The Family:
Sponsorship by a Legal Permanent Resident
Family immigration usually begins when a relative files with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The initial document that is filed is called a Petition and the person who submits it is called the Petitioner or the Sponsor. The person being sponsored (who benefits from the Petition) is called the beneficiary. The Priority Date is the date the petition is submitted to the USCIS.
Who in the Family can be a sponsor?
Only certain family members can be sponsors. A sponsor must be a legal permanent resident (green card holder) or a U.S. citizen. We will discuss here Legal Permanent Resident sponsorship. (This is about sponsorship by family members only and not sponsorship by an Employer.)
Which family members can a Legal Permanent Resident sponsor?
A Legal Permanent Resident can sponsor a spouse or his unmarried child of any age. A Legal Permanent Resident cannot sponsor a parent or a married son or daughter.
Basic petition procedure
The sponsoring Legal Permanent Resident submits a petition to the USCIS for the wife, husband, or child together with the required proof of the relationship and proof of the legal permanent resident status. Approval of the petition allows the beneficiary and the beneficiary's family members to apply for an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate or, if in the U.S., to apply to the USCIS for adjustment of status to legal permanent resident. The beneficiary's family members get derivative benefits since all petitions filed by legal permanent residents are preference petitions.
Derivative Status
Beneficiaries of preference petitions can give Derivative Status to their own families. Derivative Status allows the beneficiary's family to get immigrant visas without having their own separate petition. As an example, if a Legal Permanent Resident sponsors his wife (Family 2A), not only does the wife get a green card but also the wife's children (if under age 21 and unmarried), all from the one petition for the wife.
A Legal Permanent Resident sponsor usually files a separate petition for his unmarried children that are under age 21 only if he is not filing a petition for the children's mother.
Legal Permanent Resident Preferences
The beneficiary of an approved petition who is the wife or husband of a Legal Permanent Resident will be in the Family 2A (F2A) preference. Children (if under age 21and unmarried) will also be in Family 2A. A son or daughter of an Legal Permanent Resident who is over age 21 will be in Family 2B (F2B).
How Preferences can Change
Family preferences can change. When a Legal Permanent Resident petitioner becomes a U.S. Citizen, petitions for family members are automatically changed to the categories for citizen sponsors (the beneficiaries go into Immediate Relative, Family 1, or Family 3 categories). The sponsor must notify the USCIS for the change to take effect.
When the child of an Legal Permanent Resident becomes 21 years old, the child is automatically dropped from Family 2A and put into Family 2B.
When an unmarried child that is being sponsored by a Legal Permanent Resident gets married, that child drops from Family 2A or Family 2B classification to being ineligible for sponsorship
What date determines the Applicant’s Category?
The critical date that determines how a person is treated for an immigrant visa is the date that the person first enters the U.S. with an immigrant visa and not when the visa was issued by the consul. If the beneficiary is already in the U.S., the critical date is the day on which the applicant's status is to be adjusted to permanent resident and not when the adjustment application was submitted.
Warning about Family petitions and preferences
This is a very brief introduction to a very complex subject matter. We have not outlined any of these topics in depth nor have we outlined special relationships such as step-children, half-brothers and -sisters, adopted children, etc.