Gregory, MI Immigration Law Firms & Lawyers

(brothers and sisters of adult citizens) category has a longer waiting time than F2B (unmarried sons and daughters (21 and over) of permanent residents) and F2A (spouse and children (below 21) of permanent residents) categories. If your brother is below 21, the waiting time is about 2 years for all countries of charge ability for F2A category. The waiting time for F4 is about 11 years for all countries of charge ability other than Mexico and the Philippines. For Mexico and the Philippines, the waiting times are 16 years and 23 years, respectively. So the waiting time difference ranges from 9-21 years, depending on your brother's country of changeability. If your brother is 21 or older and his country of changeability is other than Mexico and the Philippines, the difference is about 3 years based on the November visa bulletin. If your brother's country of changeability is Mexico, the difference is about 4 years. If it's the Philippines, it's about 13 years. In deciding who should file the petition, I think you should also factor in the age and health condition of your parents and the likelihood of your brother getting married before your parents could file for citizenship. The death of a petitioner before a visa is granted to the beneficiary results in the automatic revocation of the visa petition (unless 204(l) applies). Also, if your brother is petitioned by your parent and he gets married before the petitioning parent naturalizes, it will also result in the revocation of the petition because there is no visa category available for married sons and daughters of permanent residents.

There are several ways to immigrate to the U.S. One way is by employment-based immigration and another is by family-based immigration. There are also temporary visas and permanent visas (commonly known as green cards). We handle matters like this for our clients all of the time. It is important for our office to do an analysis of the options that are available for your family member and to list out for him/her the timing, best to worst scenarios and costs for each option.