As a U.S. citizen who is at least 21 years old, you may apply for a green card for your parents. If your parents entered the U.S. legally with a visa, they may be eligible to apply for a green card through adjustment of status inside the U.S. Applying for adjustment of status for your parents in the U.S. requires several steps.
You must satisfy certain requirements before you can file for special immigrant juvenile status and adjustment of status at the same time.
USCIS announced on July 25, 2022 that USCIS would extend certain filing deadlines to allow applicants to cope with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. If a USCIS request or notice was sent between March 1, 2020, and October 23, 2022, USCIS will accept a response received within 60 calendar days after the due date stated in those requests or notices before taking any action.
If you are applying for special immigrant juvenile status, you are exempt from paying the fee for Form I-360, Petition for Special Immigrant. Even though there is no filing fee for your Form I-360 to petition for special immigrant juvenile status, there is a filing fee if you file Form I-485 to apply for a green card. If you cannot afford to pay this fee, you may be able to waive the fee.
To qualify for SIJ status, you must meet all of the following requirements: you must be physically present in the U.S., you must be less than 21 years of age, you cannot be married, and you must be declared dependent upon the juvenile court.
To apply for an immigrant visa for your child over 21 years old who resides outside the U.S., you must be either a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. If you are a U.S. citizen, you can apply for your children over 21, including married and unmarried children. If you are a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), you can apply for your unmarried children over 21.
With the I-601A provisional waiver, you will not have to depart the U.S. while your application is pending. If your I-601A is approved, you will be able to leave the U.S. and attend an immigrant visa interview abroad. At that stage, you will have peace of mind knowing that you have the approved waiver in your hands, and you will be able to return to the U.S. to be reunited with your family soon.
If you are outside of the United States, you may apply at a U.S. consulate abroad for an immigrant visa in order to come to the United States and be admitted as a permanent resident. This process is called consular processing. If you are already inside the United States and you entered the U.S. legally (with a visa), you might be able to apply for permanent resident status without having to return to your home country to complete processing. This process is called adjustment of status.
Form I-601 and I-601A have a different process and requirements. You can only file a Form I-601A waiver if you are inadmissible because you have incurred the 3-year or 10-year bar. You can file a Form I-601 waiver if you are subject to other bars.
Whether you apply for a K1 fiancé(e) visa or a spousal visa mostly depends on the U.S. petitioner’s immigration status and whether you are married. Only a U.S. citizen’s fiancé(e) can apply for a K-1 fiancé(e) visa; a lawful permanent resident’s fiancé(e) cannot apply for a K-1 visa. If you have seen each other in person in the last two years but are not able to get married in the near future, you might want to apply for a K-1 fiancé(e) visa so your fiancé(e) can come to the U.S. sooner. If you are already married, you can apply for a spousal visa.
USCIS considers all expedite requests on a case-by-case basis. USCIS may require additional documentation to support such requests and has the sole discretion to decide whether to accommodate a request. Unfortunately, the need to obtain employment authorization by itself, without evidence of other compelling factors, does not warrant expedited treatment.
With the I-601A provisional waiver, you can rest assured that you will not have to depart the U.S. while your application is pending. If your I-601A is approved, you will be able to leave the U.S. and attend an immigrant visa interview abroad. At that stage, you will have peace of mind knowing that you have the approved waiver in your hands, and you will be able to return to the U.S. to be reunited with your family soon.
Letters from friends and family members attesting to the genuineness of your marriage can help your green card application. When USCIS receives a marriage green card application, one of USCIS’s primary goals is to determine which applications are fraudulent and which are genuine. People who enter into fake marriages solely for the purpose of obtaining a green card usually do not want to tell their friends and family that they are married.
If you leave the U.S. while your Form I-485 application to adjust status is pending and before you received an advance parole document, you will be deemed to have abandoned your Form I-485 application. You cannot simply return to the U.S. However, USCIS can still continue to process your Form I-130. You can use the consular processing procedure to receive an immigrant visa outside the U.S. After USCIS approves your Form I-130, you must file Form I-824 to transfer your immigration application to the National Visa Center.
When a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident submits a petition to apply for a foreign family member, the petitioner must demonstrate that he/she has sufficient financial support to support the family member’s living expenses in the U.S. The purpose of this rule is to ensure the foreign family member will not become a public charge in the U.S. The petitioner must submit a complete tax return for the most recent year. The petitioner can provide the most recent three years’ of tax returns, but only the most recent year’s tax return is required.