Family Immigration: Green Cards

One of the most popular forms of becoming a permanent resident is through family immigration. Broadly speaking, there are four types of individuals who may be eligible to apply for a green card through a family member. You may be eligible if you:

Are directly related to a U.S. citizen

·        Including husbands and wives, unmarried children who are younger than 21, and parents of a U.S. citizen who is at least 21 years old

Are related to a U.S. citizen and if you fit into a preference category

·        Including unmarried children who are older than 21, married children (regardless of age), and siblings of a U.S. citizen who is at least 21 years old

Are related to a green card holder

·        Including husbands/wives and unmarried children who are related to the permanent resident

·        In this case, citizenship is not required, but permanent residency is

Belong to a special category

·        Including abused spouses or children (VAWA), someone who was born to a foreign diplomat in the U.S., K and V non-immigrants, and widows or widowers of a U.S. citizen

For more information on family based immigration and green cards, please refer to the links or contact Immigration Attorney Phillip Kim at (619) 752-5379 or visit him on the web:

PKimmigration

phillipkimlaw

Immediate Relatives of a U.S. Citizen and the Green Card

One of the most popular ways of becoming a U.S. citizen is through an immediate family member. When it comes to applying for a visa, immediate relatives are given top priority. There are an unlimited number of visas available for family members. So, if you are an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, you will not need to be waitlisted until a visa number becomes available. Usually, a visa should be available right away.

You are designated as an immediate relative if you are the spouse, child, or parent of a U.S. citizen. As a child, you must be under the age of 21 and unmarried. If you are applying as the parent, the U.S. citizen must be at least 21 years of age.

You may apply for a green card either while you are in the U.S. or while you are abroad.

If you are currently in the U.S., you can complete the application process in one step: you file an I-485 and your U.S. citizen relative petitions with Form I-130. This must be done at the same time. Filing forms can be complicated, and one mistake could result in a rejection of your request. It is recommended that you seek the assistance of an attorney who is specialized in immigration to help you file these forms.

Sometimes, the petitioner (the U.S. citizen you are related to) files the I-130 early. In this case, you can still file an I-485 as long as the petitioner’s request has not been rejected. When you receive a Notice of Action that tells you that the I-130 has been approved, you can submit from I-485. You will have to include a copy of the receipt or approval notice.

If you are not currently in the U.S., but are an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen, you have a different process to go through. First, the U.S. citizen must file form I-130 and it must be approved by USCIS. When USCIS approves of the petition, you must wait until they notify you that you are eligible to apply for a visa. When a visa is available, it will be issued to you. Once you have your visa, you can travel with it and you will become a U.S. permanent resident when you enter the U.S. If you fail to apply for a visa within one year after the Department of State has told you that you are eligible, your petition could be terminated. This entire process is known as consular processing.

Some conditions make it difficult for you to apply for a visa or green card through an immediate relative. In immigration, good timing makes all the difference. If you are applying as a child of a U.S. citizen, you must apply before you reach the age of 21. Once you pass that age, you will be moved into a different visa preference category that will make it more difficult to apply through a U.S. citizen parent. A visa may not be available to you immediately, and this will cause a delay in adjusting your status or processing your request for a green card. So, it’s important to begin the visa application process as early as possible.

On the same note, sometimes it is possible for a person to pass the age of 21 and still legally be called a “child”. Under the Child Status Protection Act, it is possible that USCIS will determine your age based on the date your parent files the I-130 for you. For example, if a parent files the form while the child is 20 years old, it may be possible to request that the child’s age be determined by that date.

Another factor that will make the immigration process lengthier and sometimes impossible is marriage. If you are under the age of 21, applying for a green card through a U.S. citizen parent, and married, then you no longer fall in the category of “immediate relative”. This means that your status will change from top priority for a visa to third priority, and a visa will not be available for you right away. It is important to keep USCIS updated on any change in your marital status after the I-130 has been filed and before you receive a visa or permanent status.

Finally, some situations we have come across specifically include:

A spouse has entered the U.S. with a different type of visa (sometimes a student visa or visitor’s visa)

The spouse of family member’s visa has expired and they are seeking a change in status or to apply for a green card through an immediate relative

Green card renewal – you can renew your green card whether it is expired or not. Past criminal convictions will affect your chances for obtaining a renewal.

If you have any questions about applying for a visa or green card through an immediate relative, please contact Attorney Phillip Kim.

The Temporary Investors Visa (E-2)

The Investors visa can be a very broad category. If you are interested in investing a large sum of capital in a U.S. company you, your employees, and your family may be eligible for a visa of up to 2 years. When 2 years is up, your visa is eligible to be extended if your stay remains temporary. That means that the E-2 visa is considered non-immigrant and you should intend to leave the country in the future, when your work with this financial enterprise is finished or it is no longer necessary to work from the U.S. If you are interested in fully immigrating to invest in a U.S. company and becoming a permanent resident, look into the green card process for investors.


To be eligible for an E-2 visa, you should see a list of countries from which investors have been approved for temporary stay in the U.S. These countries are called treaty countries, and the E-2 visa is also referred to as the treaty investors visa. If you are a national from an eligible country and are currently in the U.S., you can file for E-2 status as an investor. If you are not already in the U.S. but are interested in getting an investor visa, you should contact the U.S. State Department with further questions. From outside the U.S., the U.S. state department can issue you a visa and you can declare investor status when you enter the U.S.

To be an eligible investor, you should own at least half of the commercial enterprise and plan to oversee, direct, and advance its further growth. The enterprise must present a substantial investment, meaning that it can financially sustain the investor and his or her family and aims to generate new jobs, goods, or services. However, the investment should still meet traditional business standards of being at risk for loss and aimed at making profit. The investment should meet legal requirements and the investment capital must be gotten lawfully. That means that money flowing into the enterprise cannot have involved criminal activity on any level.


Spouses and children of investors can also travel on the E-2 visa, and they are not subject to the same nationality requirements as the investor. For the visa process, children are considered dependents that are unmarried and are 21 years old or less. If you are the family member of an investor already in the U.S. and would like to change your status to the E-2 visa, you can file to change your status. Immediate family members of investors are generally given an E-2 visa for the same amount of time as the investor and can usually be similarly renewed.


For more information and help with getting a visa, contact immigration attorney Phillip Kim at (619)752-5379 or go to pkimmigration.com or phillipkimlaw.com

Getting a Green Card and The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program

Each year, the U.S. State Department (U.S. DOS)makes 50,000 visas available to visa applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to foster diversity in the U.S. The Diversity Immigrant Visa recipients are chosen using a lottery system, which you can enter each year through the U.S. Department of State. There is a yearly window of time in which you can apply   Please note that the diversity visa does not go through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office. If you receive a visa from the U.S. DOS, you are also eligible to apply for a change of status to permanent resident with the USCIS. While the USCIS does not process applicants to the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, you must file the correct USCIS forms to get a green card.

To be eligible to be a Diversity Visa recipient, you must have at least a high school diploma or equivalent . If you do not have a high school education, you should have at least 2 years of work experience in a field that requires at least 2 years of training. You can find a list of qualifying work experience and answers to more questions with the U.S. Department of Labor’s website.

If you are eligible to apply for the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, you can enter yourself in the lottery online during the allotted entry time. If the window for applying has closed, you must wait until the following year to apply for a DV visa. You will also be notified of the lottery results online.

Once you enter the Diversity Immigrant visa Program and your entrance has been confirmed, you should follow usual procedure for getting a visa. This will mean filing the necessary forms ( see the USCIS website for visa related forms), paying correct filing fees, undergoing a medical examination and submitting the documents with the results, and undergoing an interview at the U.S. Consulate or USCIS office near you.  You must also submit passport-style photographs of you, your spouse, and unmarried children 21 years old or younger.

Remember that you will be checking your application status on a secure State Department website. Take extra caution to keep your confirmation records. If lost, the U.S. DOS will not replace your information and you will be unable to check the status of the lottery.

There are currently fake acceptance letters and websites circulating to try to get applicants to pay money to a fraudulent source.  Do not reply or send money to any letters claiming to be about the Diversity Visa program if you have not checked your status on the U.S. DOS secure website for DV applicants. Check your status only on the site given to you be the U.S. State Department when you apply for your visa.

If you are chosen to receive a visa through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, you can apply for a permanent residence card as soon as a visa is available to you. In order to get a green card for permanent residence in the U.S., you need to have a visa available to you in order to travel legally. Do not apply for permanent residence before your visa becomes available. This may require a waiting period.

 If you have a DV visa, you can file for a change of status to permanent resident with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services . As long as there are not holds on your eligibility to be a permanent resident and you are admissible to the U.S., you can file your change of status as normal with the USCIS. You will need to provide proof of your acceptance to the DV program when changing your status.