The Immediate Relatives of a U.S. Citizen and the Immigration Preferences

Parents of U.S. citizens are eligible to apply for permanent resident status as immediate relatives, but only if the U.S. citizen is 21 years older. One thing to point out is that the father-in-law and mother-in-law of a U.S. citizen are not "parents" of the U.S. citizen for immigration purposes. The "immediate relatives" of a U.S. citizen, including parents, spouses, widows, and children of a U.S. Citizen (children who are unmarried and under 21 years of age), can immigrate to the United States without being subject to any visa numerical restrictions.

Immediate relatives may immigrate to the United States on a family based petition. This is the most attractive category, since there is no limitation to the number of immigrants who may qualify under this category and, in most cases, visa numbers are immediately available for these individuals to apply for lawful permanent residence.

Immediate relatives include spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens. Immediate relatives of a U.S. citizen can immigrate to the United States without being subject to any numerical restrictions. This means there is no visa quota allowed under the immediate relative category, unlike other close family members of U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The immediate relatives of a U.S. citizen can apply for U.S. permanent resident status without any waiting time.

The rest of the relatives are divided into several groups called "preferences." Each preference is given a numerical quota per year to limit the number of immigrants admitted into the United States. The four preferences are as follows:

1st Preference: applies to unmarried sons and daughters of U.S. citizens;

2nd Preference: applies to spouses and unmarried sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents;

3rd Preference: applies to married sons and daughters of U.S. citizens;

4th Preference: siblings of U.S. citizens.

http://www.greencardfamily.com/parent/parent_whatis.htm

http://www.greencardapply.com

http://www.greencardfamily.com

The Family-Sponsored Immigration

Family-sponsored immigration is to become a U.S. permanent resident through certain family relations. Normally, a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident would file an immigration petition with the United States Citizenship and Immigrations Services (USCIS). The U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident is called the sponsor. The alien relative for whom the immigration petition is filed is called the beneficiary.

A U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident can be the sponsor of a family-sponsored immigration petition. However, the sponsor has to meet certain requirements and legal obligations. The sponsor has to submit a legally binding affidavit of support for the beneficiary to USCIS, in which the sponsor guarantees to maintain the standard of living of the intending immigrant at a level not lower than 125% of the national poverty level. This obligation continues until the beneficiary has become a U.S. citizen, or has worked in the United States for 40 qualifying quarters.

Spouses of U.S. citizens are eligible for permanent resident status as "immediate relatives". The process of completing and submitting an immigrant visa application for relatives can be confusing. As a U.S. citizen, you can submit an immigrant application if you have a close family relation, and you can sponsor the following family members:

Husband or wife;

Widow or widower of a U.S. citizen;

Brother or sister (including half-brothers and half-sisters);

Son or daughter (including illegitimate children);

Stepson or stepdaughter;

Stepparent of a U.S. citizen child;

Adopted son or daughter;

Adopted parent;

Father or mother;

Battered or abused spouse or child.

http://www.greencardfamily.com/citizenspouse/ctspouse_whatis.htm

http://www.greencardapply.com

http://www.greencardfamily.com

The Likely Release of Proposed Rule of H-4 Spouse EAD

Under the rule-making Executive Order, the OMB of the White House has from 30 days to 90 days to complete their review. There are some exceptions including any rules that involve emergency or serious economic impact, which can be completed within 30 days. Another rule is the OMB's authority to extend the maximum 90-day review mandate. In 2012, for obvious reasons, a host of visa and immigration related rules of the DHS, DOS, and DOL kept extended over and over beyond 90 days and some beyond 180 days. 

The reason why this proposed rule review may be completed in March 2013 is the bi-annual rule making agenda that set the target date at March 2013, implying that this proposed rule review schedule may follow the 90-day review schedule of the OMB and USCIS. The proposed rule was submitted by the USCIS to the OMB on 12/10/2012. We will see whether there will be any chance that the proposed rule review will be completed rather earlier under the 60-day review schedule. We will wait and see. 

This does not mean that the H-4 EAD rule can be implemented in March 2013. Once the proposed rule is published in the federal register with a period of comment, it will have to go through another cycle of the OMB review before the binding Interim Final or Final Rule can be published in the federal register.

Proposed rule is not binding.  Besides, depending on the USCIS policy, there will be an extended period of time for the agency toreview the comments which they received from the public before they draft and submit the Interim Final or Final to the OMB for review. The proposed rule will also provide from 30 days to 60 days comment period. Our smart visitors will be able to figure out the rough timeline, from the foregoing information, when the H-4 spouse EAD program may be in place and implemented.