Family Visas: Your Guide to Bringing a Loved One to the U.S.

Family visas authorize the close relatives of a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to visit or live in the United States. Learn more here from our attorneys.

What Are Family Visas?

One of the greatest privileges of obtaining U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency is having the ability to petition the federal government to grant entry to your relatives who are still living in their native country. The documents that allow such entry are known as family visas. 

Under the current rules, there is a quota of 480,000 visas that can be granted to non-immediate family members of naturalized U.S. citizens every year. That number does not include visas that are designated for spouses, parents, or children under the age of 21. There is no annual limit set on those visas, as the government wants to encourage you to reunite with your immediate family members in our great nation. Once the federally-mandated limit of 480,000 issued visas is met for the year, non-immediate relatives seeking a visa will have to wait until October 1 when the fiscal year starts over.

Whether you are seeking a family visa for a spouse, a child, a parent, or a sibling, having a skilled immigration attorney on your side can increase your odds of successfully bringing them to the United States. To begin the process and learn more about your options, please reach out to Tadeo & Silva Immigration Attorneys today.

Derivative Visas for Family Members

If you have researched the process of obtaining a visa through family-based immigration, you may have seen the term “derivative visas for family members” or “derivative classification.” Essentially, those are the visa benefits we discussed earlier that are available to spouses or unmarried children who are 21 or older.

Non-immigrant derivative visas are offered to foreign nationals who have displayed their intent to stay in the United States for an extended period of time but are not ready to commit to the pursuit of permanent residency.

The most popular non-immigrant visas include the B-1 and B-2 visitor visas and the H-1B, L-1 and TN visas. Your immigration attorney can help explain the difference between all of these options if you have a relative who wants to spend an extended period of time with you in the U.S. without committing to becoming a green card holder. It is important to note that there are no derivative options attached to these visitor visas.

How Long Do Family-Based Visas Take to Process?

The type of family-based immigrant visa you will be applying for will have a major impact on how long the process takes. Since there is no limit on the annual number of visas issued to immediate family members, applicants for IR visas do not have to wait in line for a visa number. 

Conversely, applicants for Family Preference visas are placed in line where they have to wait to receive their assigned visa number. Another factor that slows down the FP visa is what country the applicant is coming from. Nations with a high rate of U.S. immigration such as Mexico, the Philippines, and China may experience longer-than-normal wait times.

In contrast, processing of Form I-130, which is used for immediate family members, typically only takes about five months as long as it contains no mistakes, but there have been cases of the process taking a year or more when there are mistakes on any part of your application. The process may also be slower depending on how busy the USCIS and National Visa Center (NVC) are at the time. It is important to note that any mistakes made on Form I-130 can cause significant delays in the process, so you should consider working with an immigration attorney who can ensure that your paperwork is in order.