Who can petition for whom, why some cases wait years and others do not, and where the process actually goes wrong. A plain guide for families in Queens and across New York.
Family-based immigration is how most people become permanent residents of the United States. The idea is simple: a citizen or a lawful permanent resident asks the government to recognize a family relationship, and that relationship becomes the basis for a green card. The execution is not simple, and the single most common source of wasted years is a misunderstanding at the very first step about which category a family actually falls into.
This guide walks through the categories, the waiting system, the two ways a case can finish, the financial requirement, and where things usually go wrong.
Everything follows from two questions: is the petitioner a United States citizen or a lawful permanent resident, and what is the relationship. Those two answers determine whether there is a wait at all.
The Immediate Relative group is the spouse of a U.S. citizen, the unmarried child under 21 of a U.S. citizen, and the parent of a U.S. citizen who is at least 21 years old. This group is not subject to an annual numerical limit, which is why these cases proceed without waiting for a visa number to become available.
The petitioner must be a citizen. This is the point most often gotten wrong, including on other websites. A lawful permanent resident cannot petition a parent, and cannot petition anyone as an Immediate Relative. If you hold a green card and you want to bring your mother or father, the answer is not a longer version of the same process. There is no family category for it until you naturalize.
Every other qualifying relationship falls into one of four preference categories, all of which are capped and therefore involve waiting:
Two absences in that list matter. A lawful permanent resident cannot petition a married child, and cannot petition a sibling at all. F3 and F4 exist only for citizens.
Note also that the categories are not fixed for life. A child who turns 21, a son or daughter who marries, or a petitioner who naturalizes can all move a case from one category to another with a very different waiting time. Some of those movements are helpful and some are not, and several of them are foreseeable years in advance. That is worth planning rather than discovering.
Not sure whether your relative is an Immediate Relative or in a preference category? That answer changes everything. Call us.For the capped categories, filing the petition does not begin a process that runs at a steady pace. It gives you a priority date, which is your place in a queue. The case then waits until an immigrant visa number becomes available for that category and for the beneficiary's country of chargeability.
The Department of State publishes availability every month in the Visa Bulletin. For fiscal year 2026, the total across all family-sponsored preference categories is 226,000, divided among the categories and further constrained by per-country limits. That per-country constraint is why two people who filed on the same day in the same category can face very different waits depending on where they were born. F2A gets somewhat different treatment: it takes 77 percent of the overall second preference allocation, and three quarters of that is exempt from the per-country limit, which is part of why F2A generally moves faster than the other preference categories.
One detail that confuses nearly everyone: the Visa Bulletin contains two charts, not one. Final Action Dates governs when a visa can actually be issued or a green card approved. Dates for Filing governs the earliest point at which an application may be submitted. For adjustment of status, USCIS designates each month which of the two charts applicants may use, and publishes that designation on its own website. Using the wrong chart means either filing too early and having it rejected, or waiting months longer than you needed to.
We deliberately publish no specific dates here. They change monthly, and a stale cutoff date on a law firm's website is worse than none at all. Check the current Visa Bulletin on the State Department site and the current chart designation on the USCIS site, or ask us to check it for your category.
Dates do not only move forward. Retrogression, where a date moves backwards because demand exceeded the numbers available, is a normal feature of a capped system. It is unsettling when it happens to your case, but it is not a sign that anything went wrong.
Once a visa is available, the case ends in one of two places, and which one depends mainly on where the beneficiary is and how they entered.
If the beneficiary is already in the United States and is eligible, they apply to adjust status without leaving the country. The interview, when one is required, takes place at a USCIS field office. For families in Queens and the rest of New York City, that is a local appointment rather than international travel, and depending on eligibility it can come with work and travel authorization while the application is pending.
If the beneficiary is abroad, or is not eligible to adjust, the case goes through the National Visa Center and then to a U.S. embassy or consulate for an immigrant visa interview. The person enters the United States with the visa and receives the green card afterwards.
The choice is not always free, and it is not always obvious. Manner of entry, time spent in the United States without status, and prior immigration history can each make one path unavailable or risky. Departing the country to attend a consular interview can, in some situations, trigger a bar on returning. This is the single most important thing to get advice on before anyone books a flight.
Family-based cases carry a financial requirement. The petitioner files Form I-864, an Affidavit of Support, promising to maintain the immigrant at an income level set by reference to the Federal Poverty Guidelines. The sponsor's income generally must be at least 125 percent of the guideline figure for their household size. Sponsors on active duty in the armed forces who are sponsoring a spouse or minor child are held to 100 percent instead.
Household size includes the sponsor, their dependents, anyone else living with them, and the immigrants being sponsored, so a large family raises the threshold. The guideline figures are updated annually and published by USCIS on Form I-864P, so check the current version rather than a number you saw last year.
Two things about the affidavit surprise people. It is a legally enforceable contract, not a formality, and it can be enforced against the sponsor. And where the petitioner's income is not sufficient, a joint sponsor may be able to help, which frequently rescues a case that looked impossible.
The last one deserves emphasis. Tell your attorney about the arrest, the overstay, the old application, or the prior removal at the first meeting, even if it was dismissed or sealed or decades ago. Nearly everything is manageable when it is known early. Very little is manageable when it emerges from the government's file at the interview.
People want a number, and any single number you find online is an average across situations unlike yours. What genuinely determines how long a family case takes is a short list: whether the beneficiary is an Immediate Relative or in a capped category; the country of chargeability; where the priority date sits relative to the current Visa Bulletin; whether the case finishes by adjustment or at a consulate; whether a waiver is needed; and whether the filing was complete enough to avoid a Request for Evidence.
Government filing fees are the same kind of moving target. They were adjusted more than once during 2026. Rather than quote figures that may already be wrong, we point clients to the fee calculator on the USCIS website and confirm the current amounts for the specific forms their case needs.
A green card is not the end of the process. Some spouses receive conditional residence and must file to remove the conditions on a schedule, and missing that filing can put status at risk. Extended trips outside the United States can raise questions about whether residence has been abandoned. And for most permanent residents there is an eventual eligibility for naturalization, with its own residence and physical presence requirements. Knowing those dates in advance is easier than reconstructing them later.
If you are trying to bring a family member to New York, or you are not sure which category applies, call (718) 878-1177 or contact us online for free.
This article is general information about New York law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts. For advice about your situation, call (718) 878-1177 or contact us.
No. Parents fall in the Immediate Relative group, and that group runs through U.S. citizens only. A lawful permanent resident can petition a spouse or an unmarried child, which are the F2A and F2B preference categories and involve waiting for a visa number. Bringing a parent becomes possible after naturalization.
No. Siblings are the F4 category, which is available only to U.S. citizens aged 21 or older. There is no family preference category that allows a permanent resident to petition a sibling.
Immediate Relatives of U.S. citizens are not subject to an annual numerical limit, so those cases are not waiting for a visa number. The F1 through F4 preference categories are capped, with a total of 226,000 family-sponsored visas in fiscal year 2026 divided among categories and further limited per country. That combination produces the waits.
It is your place in line, set when the petition is properly filed. For capped categories you wait until a visa number becomes available for your category and country, which the State Department publishes monthly in the Visa Bulletin.
The bulletin has two: Final Action Dates, which governs when a case can actually be approved, and Dates for Filing, which governs the earliest an application may be submitted. For adjustment of status, USCIS designates each month which chart applicants may use and publishes it on its website. Check the designation for the month you intend to file rather than assuming.
It depends on where the beneficiary is, how they entered, and their immigration history, and it is not always a free choice. Departing the United States for a consular interview can trigger a bar on returning in some situations. Get advice specific to your facts before anyone travels.
The Affidavit of Support generally requires income of at least 125 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines for your household size, with a lower 100 percent threshold for active duty sponsors of a spouse or minor child. Where the petitioner's income falls short, a joint sponsor may be able to meet the requirement, which often saves a case that appeared not to work.
They change, and they changed more than once during 2026. Rather than publish a figure that may already be out of date, we use the USCIS fee calculator and confirm current amounts for the specific forms your case requires.
Nothing. A free consultation is usually enough to establish the correct category, what the realistic waiting picture looks like, and whether anything needs attention urgently.
A free consultation is the fastest way to find out where you stand and what your options actually are.
