How do I apply for my sibling to come to the United States?
If you are a U.S. citizen, apply for your siblings right away! Why? Let me explain.
Congress has set limits on who may apply for their family members, which family members may be applied for, and how many family members may enter the United States each year. What does this mean? If you are a green card holder, you may only apply for your spouse and your children (this will be discussed in another post). Once you become a U.S. citizen, you may apply for your spouse, children, siblings, and parents. Note: no grandparents, in-laws, nieces/nephews, cousins, etc.
If you want to apply for your siblings, you must wait until you are a U.S. citizen. The major disappointment many of our clients face are the waiting times. Currently, it takes nearly 14 years - 14 YEARS - after a visa is submitted for a sibling, before their “visa becomes current.” Why? Congress only allows 65,000 siblings to enter each year. Eventually, so many people applied for siblings that a virtual line, so to speak, grew. Every year, 65,000 visas open up, or “become current.” The backlog is so severe now that it takes about 14 years before a visa, filed today, becomes current.
Many new U.S. citizens come to the following conclusions: 1) The process takes too long, so why bother? 2) My sibling must want to come to the US as a Lawful Permanent Resident (green card holder) at the time that I file the I-130 so I should wait until they are ready.
Here is my response to both: the I-130 is legally your application, not your sibling’s application. This means, if you want to give your siblings the option and opportunity to have a green card in the US, it is solely your decision to go ahead and file. The waiting times are so long that they may change their minds in 14 years. In addition, if they have children, you want to give their children the opportunity as soon as possible, before they age out (i.e. turn 21 and lose their chance). If you wait until they are ready, you will have lost all of that time that the application could have been pending. At the end of the day, if your sibling chooses not to access their visa after the I-130 is approved and becomes current, you will have lost the filing fee. But if you never file, your siblings may never have the choice to move to the United States.
A green card in the U.S. leads to the possibility of U.S. citizenship. If you want your siblings to have the same opportunities as you, go ahead and file the I-130 now! Call our immigration lawyer at 757-775-8526 to answer any of your questions and to help you file.
